This is Heavy
by DeepLittleSOB
Summary: Just a regular day in the bunker for Dean and Sam... until a stranger comes tumbling out of their ice box, bringing with him a whole new world of horror. Based on a submitted prompt.
1. Chapter 1

**2013**

"You want that last slice?" Dean asks across the metal kitchen table of the bunker while pointing to the lone piece of pizza left in the box between them.

"Have at it," Sam simply answers, wiping his mouth with a cheap paper napkin as he stands up.

Dean just smiles to himself. He grabs the slice hastily and takes a huge bite.

"You talk to Lizzy?" Sam asks as he picks up the trash from their dinner and takes it to the bin in the corner of the big mess hall-style kitchen, it starting to overflow yet he does nothing about it. He'll take it out before he gets nagged.

"Yeah," Dean answers through his bite, looking across the metal island at him. "They got in an hour ago."

"Nice of Lou to let me know," Sam lightly complains, having never head from her.

"Eh, probably figured I'd tell you." Dean shrugs it off.

"Nice work on that," Sam gripes lightly, smirking on his way to the antique icebox built into the wall.

"They decided they're staying for an extra day," Dean tells him, ignoring the sarcasm. "Which works out. If we go after that possible vamp nest in Idaho, we'll get back before they do."

"If the hunt goes our way you mean?" Sam comments, peeking into the refrigerator. Dean nods once when his mouth is too full to speak in answer. "When was the last time that actually happened?"

Dean shrugs. "Dunno."

"Try never," Sam laughs.

"Looks like a small nest though," he says before swallowing his food. "Could handle this in our sleep."

"So why don't we send out someone else on this?" Sam suggests. "Stay here. Get some research done."

"You mean research you don't want your wife knowing you're doing?" Dean challenges.

"Shut up," he says back sharply, feeling the weight of his omission. "And Lizzy's cool with you hunting for no other reason than to hunt?" he questions with a healthy amount of skepticism.

Dean looks away and takes another big bite, not answering. Guilty.

"I knew you didn't tell her before she left," Sam gets mad. "Dean…."

"Sam, I know. Okay? I know." Dean finishes his bite to defend himself. "We talked about me hunting. She's the one that said I shouldn't hunt unless it had to do with the Trials… which she's super pissed at you for not telling Lou about still."

Now Sam looks guilty. "I'll tell her when she gets back." His brother huffs in disbelief. " _I will_. I just didn't want to ruin their first trip back home in a long time. And this all _just_ happened. I need some time with it myself."

Dean gets quiet for a moment, still upset that Sam is the one taking this on. "I still think we should find another hellhound and let me kill this one…."

"Not gonna happen," Sam shakes his head in refusal. "What's done is done. And I know I can do this."

"I know you can too, Sammy," Dean wrinkles his forehead, and takes another bite, ending the statement there.

And Sam knows it isn't that Dean thinks he can't handle the Trials. He knows it's just that old big brother act rearing its head. Dean's gotten better at letting Sam do his thing and worrying less as he has his own wife and son to think about and focus on. But sometimes… sometimes he's still just simply a big brother like always.

"Well, when you get sent to the dog house for not telling her, which you know is gonna happen, then I guess I'll be meeting you there," Dean bitches a little.

Sam huffs a laugh. "So, you're going behind Lizzy's back instead of grabbing your balls and telling her?"

"Hey! Not telling Lizzy that I'm going vamp hunting has nothing to do with my manhood, okay?" Dean points out, offended. "I'm just avoiding unnecessary conflict."

"You're being a wimp," Sam calls him out.

"And you're not?" He cocks an eyebrow at him in challenge.

Sam sighs with more guilt as he brings two bottles of beer to the table and sits back down. He places both bottles on the table and Dean picks them up one at a time, popping them with a silverware knife. Dean passes one back to Sam and they clink bottles.

"To the dog house," Sam smirks, knowing they're both cooked.

"Woof," Dean answer back flatly and gulps down a healthy amount of beer. After he swallows he sighs, "Ah. Well, upside of the wife and kid being away, I can drink like I want to…."

Dean's thought gets cut off when a bright light blasts through the room as the longest door of the old fashioned icebox flies open sharply, the door slamming into the wall with massive force. The light bursts brighter as a body is launched through the open doorway, the form flying through the air a few feet and landing hard on its side. The person then skids with force until it hits the metal table Dean and Sam are sitting at, back first. The open icebox door then slams shut, putting the room into calm silence once more. The whole abrupt moment ends as quickly as it began.

"Ugh… ow…."

With just a quick glance at each other, the brothers stand up sharply. Sam grabs a big butcher knife off the kitchen island near him and holds it out, prepared for anything, as Dean pulls his trusty handgun out from behind his back. He aims at the intruder that's groaning in pain on the floor as he thanks his lucky stars that he planned to head to the awesome shooting range he found in the basement yesterday after he finished dinner.

"Jesus… that sucked so hard," the young man's voice groans from the floor, clearly still hurting as he rolls onto his side and grabs his back.

" _Get up_ ," Dean directs, his voice commanding and showing immediately that he means business. He flicks the safety off of his gun, getting a really bad feeling about this situation.

"Ugh, wait. Hold on," the man answers, shifting slowly to his knees before getting up, a hand pressing onto the edge of the table for assistance. "Damn. Wasn't ready for that kinda entrance," he laughs a little, looking at Sam and then Dean. "Hey, guys."

"Is this what it's gonna be like living here? Dudes falling out of our appliances?" Dean asks Sam with a little panic. They just found this place.

"Who are you?" Sam booms out in his best, most intimidating voice as he ignores his brother for now. The knife in his hand is held out at the ready, his stance prepared for a fight.

"Okay, can you put the weapons away?" the younger man asks, attitude full out. "I know you guys are all cautious and paranoid and all but seriously, it's a bit much."

"You just flew out of our fucking icebox. I'll put the gun away when I'm ready," Dean comments before repeating Sam's question. "Who are you?"

"Relax…."

Dean cocks his gun when the young man takes a step towards him. " _Don't_ move." The man freezes mid-step and holds out his hands in surrender. "Let's try this again. _Who are you_?"

"Put the gun down and I'll tell you," the smartass says back, smiling in a cocky manner.

Before he knows it, Sam's crept up behind him. Grabbing the intruder swiftly up under his arms and locking his hands around the back of the intruder's head, Sam gets him immobile quickly and Dean steps right up to him.

"See…" Dean starts, grabbing a fistful of the man's t-shirt in one hand as he presses the barrel of his gun to the guy's forehead right in the center. "You're the one that just… poofed out of a wall in my home. Tell me to relax again and it's lobotomy time. When we ask a question, you answer. Capisce?"

"Fuck, you have not changed," the guy answers with a slight smile, still keeping his confident ways in the face of possible death.

"Buddy, I'd lay off the attitude," Sam warns from behind him and tightens his grip.

"Ow. Okay! Okay! Jesus, sorry," the guy rolls his eyes. "Ask a damn question then."

"Why the hell are you jailbreaking our kitchen?" Dean asks right off.

"Well… technically I'm not jailbreaking your kitchen if I'm breaking _into_ your kitchen," he tries to logic, not meaning to be more annoying.

Dean's not amused. "Answer!"

"I need your help… you and Sam's," he answers simply.

"I'm sorry, do we know you?" Sam asks with confusion.

"Uh… kinda…."

"What do you need help with?" Sam questions, hold not letting up.

"Saving my mom," he spills quickly.

"You're mom?" Dean pulls the gun off his forehead but keeps it aimed. "Why?"

"Because I'd rather not lose her," the guys answers. "She's in trouble and I need help fixing her."

"Why would we help you save your mom?" Sam asks, loosening his grip to a less painful place when he knows there's a real reason for this young man to be here. And honestly, if there's going to be a soft spot for the Winchesters it would be mothers.

"Because that's what you do?" he answers with an attitude once more. "Saving people? Hunting things? Sound familiar? You need to help me."

"How the hell do you know about that?" Dean wonders, his heart beginning to pound. This person knows about their family, clearly. And as Dean stands there and really looks at his face something is making Dean itch. He looks too familiar.

"Because… you've said those words to me before," he answers easily enough. "When I first started hunting."

"Me?" Dean asks, surprised. "I don't even know you."

"Oh my god, seriously?" he asks with shock, pointing at his own face while Sam still has him restrained. " _This_ doesn't look familiar to you?"

"Am I supposed to remember every kid I come across?" Dean snaps back

"No… but I figured you'd recognize your own."

Dean takes a step back, lowering his gun immediately. Staring at the face before him, it all clicks. The eyes. The lips. The stance. The clothes. The attitude. "Sammy?"

"About time, dad," Sammy bitches at his father before turning his head to the side the little that he can. "You mind letting up a little, Uncle Sam?"

Wide eyed, Sam lets him go. When the kid turns around he can clearly see now that it's his nephew he's looking at… yet he's much older. "How…? But you're three!"

"Oh, come on!" Sammy huffs a laugh. "How many times have you both time traveled? You think that's exclusively for you two?" Sammy brushes off his jeans and straightens his army green canvas jacket. "I have my ways."

"Wait… how old are you?" Dean asks him, not processing what's happening.

"Twenty-two. I'm coming from the year 2033."

"Okay…." Dean's not sure what to make of all this.

"Hold on," Sam suddenly gets alarmed. "You said you need help saving your mom?"

"Yeah, I do," Sammy nods, picking up his backpack from the floor now that the big reveal is done. His bag fell off while being launched into the room. He drops in onto the metal table.

"Hold up," Dean shakes his head. "How do I even know you're my son for sure? You could be a shifter… or a demon… or…."

"A million other things," Sammy finishes for him, pulling out a water bottle. He takes a big sip from it, the rosary beads floating around in it catching the two seasoned hunter's eyes. Sammy doesn't sizzle or react. He then pulls out a small flask, unscrews the cap, and pours some salt into his hand. No reaction once more. He then shakes out his hands to rid them of salt and pulls a silver knife out of the back of his pocket.

He flips it open, watching Dean and Sam both flinch when the weapon appears.

"Chill, guys," Sammy tells them calmly, moving slowly to make sure they can trust him. He pulls his sleeve up and makes a shallow cut in the skin of his arm. It bleeds red like a normal human. He then looks between the two brothers. "We good now?"

Dean's face immediately darkens as he pulls a handkerchief from his back pocket. He hands it to Sammy on autopilot as he asks, "What's wrong with L?" His heart is already beating rapidly with the idea that something could be off with his wife.

"Uh… it's kinda complicated," Sammy tells him while wrapping up his cut, not sure how to break the news. When done, he unzips his pack and pulls out a fairly new yet well-loved leather journal.

"Sammy, what's wrong with your mom?" Dean tries again with a little more insistence in his tone, his urgency clear.

Sammy sighs and sits down at the table. He picks up one of the ditched beers and takes a big sip.

"Hey, whoa… no way," Dean shakes his head and swipes the beverage from his son without thinking.

"Dude… I'm twenty-two. Legally, you can't tell me not to drink," Sammy remarks quickly, grabbing the other left behind beer and drinking from that.

"You better start explaining," Dean warns him in his fatherly tone.

Sammy huffs a laugh, disgusted with his life and how it's going back in his own time. He drops the bottle back onto the table, fisting it in two hands before looking up at his father. "Mom got herself into some trouble. And… the outcome is bad."

"How bad?"

"Really bad."

"Is she alive?" Sam asks, getting scared.

"Kind of," Sammy nods.

"But kinda not?" Dean wonders.

Swallowing hard, knowing he's about to crush his father, Sammy answers. "Mom, she's…." He stops, the pain clear on his face. He's been dealing with this for years and it's never gotten easier, not even a little.

"Sammy? What?" Dean asks, his heart racing with fear.

"Dad… mom's a demon."


	2. Chapter 2

It would have hurt less if someone shivved Dean in the heart with a sharpened toothbrush prison-style. Nothing makes sense right now. Nothing.

"Are you sure?" Sam asks but Dean barely hears him. His brain isn't able to work. It's trudging slowly through the whole Lizzy-is-a-demon thing at such a slow pace that everything else is white noise.

"Uh, pretty sure," Sammy tells him, grabbing his bag, journal, and the beer he's officially stolen. "Been tracking her for years."

"Wait… _years_!?" Sam nearly shouts.

"Yeah. She got turned back in 2014 and ditched. She's been a monster ever since. I've caught up to her a few times but it doesn't matter. She always gets away. No matter what I do, she keeps going."

"I don't understand," Dean finally gets out when he starts to clear his mind enough to speak. "Lizzy… your mom… my wife…."

"A demon. A big raging one too," Sammy says emphatically to drive the point home but neither brother misses the pain he tries to hide.

"But she wouldn't run away from you," Dean logics. "I mean, she loves you more than she loves me. You're her damn world."

"I was," Sammy nods, agreeing. She turned when he was just a kid but he still remembers her. He still has moments like when they'd read before bed, when she'd make him peanut butter and jelly with the crust cut off, and when she'd tell him he was her world and kiss his cheek. His mother was his home, his safe place, his form of love… and it disappeared when he was just four. "Not anymore though."

"That doesn't make sense…."

"It does. She's not mom anymore. She's a demon. Demons don't give a fuck about love and family. Their priorities are way different. They have no heart. Hell, they have no soul."

"How? How the hell did this happen? She's not stupid enough to sell her soul in the first place," Dean tells his son. "And it takes a ten year contract coming due plus years of torture to turn someone and if she gets turned just a year from now…."

"She never made any deals," Sammy assures him while cutting off his rambling logic.

"Then how?" Sam wants to know just as badly.

Sammy sighs heavily, clutching his stuff. "Meet me in the library. I can explain it all."

He then leaves the room and heads in the correct direction, the young hunter clearly very comfortable in the bunker, knowing it well.

Horrified green eyes land on Sam the second Sammy is gone.

"You trust him?" Dean asks, clearly looking to be told that Sam doesn't trust the newcomer. If that really is their family then chances are Lizzy really is a demon. All of which doesn't make sense, not to them.

"He's your son, isn't he?" Sam challenges.

"I think so," Dean nods sadly.

"Is there any way we can be sure it's him?" Sam asks, needing to be totally sure.

"Uh… I don't know," Dean shakes his head. "I mean, we have books written about us. Anyone can read those and know everything about us."

Sam nods. He thinks quickly, looking at the grungy floor. He thinks about the young Sammy he knows, their relationship… and what it is Sam would be sure only their actually family would know or have….

Head whipping up and looking at Dean with wide eyes, Sam's clearly got an idea.

"What?" Dean asks.

"Come on," Sam gestures for Dean to follow and he takes off after Sammy.

* * *

"What kind of car do you drive?" Sam asks as he marches into the bunker library, Dean hot on his heels.

Sammy looks up from his open journal to stare at both of them with disbelief. "Are you seriously asking that?"

"Yeah, I am," Sam nods, standing at the end of one of the long wooden tables in the room, staring at what he thinks is probably his nephew.

"Answer the question," Dean adds in when Sammy rolls his eyes. He stands next to his brother, waiting.

Sammy sighs as he walks for a specific bookshelf, pulling a volume with barely a look. His comfort makes it seem as though he really must live there. "You want to know if I drive dad's old Impala I take it. That's the test to see if I'm really me?"

Neither answer, making it obvious that it is in fact the test.

"Sorry dad. But no," Sammy tells him. "I don't drive the black '67 Chevy Impala you got from your dad, John, when you were a hunting twenty-something. And yes, I know all about the green army man Uncle Sam stuck in the ashtray in the backseat when he was a dumb kid… and the Legos you put in the vent when _you_ were a dumb kid. And that you called it Baby. That good enough?"

"Why aren't you driving her then?" Dean asks, brow furrowed and worried. He knows he would have handed his car down to his boy by now. Sammy should have it.

"Because mom took it," Sammy informs him, placing the large volume on the table and flipping through it, searching. "She knew what it meant to you so she took it after she turned black-eyed and left. And then she took it to a scrap yard and had it destroyed. Crushed into a cube." Sammy pauses and looks over at his dad.

The horror is written all over his face.

"That's how we all knew for sure she wasn't mom. Not anymore," Sammy further explains. "When a box showed up on the doorstep of the bunker no one knows about with the keys and that little army man in it along with a piece of broken horn button and a note that said 'Don't bother looking for me. You'll regret it.'… we knew."

Dean's pale-white, devastated face just stares at Sammy. "Why would she do that?"

"She still knew what that car meant to you. That was her way of saying she's gone for good, that she was totally different and not your wife anymore… or my mom." Sammy's face wrinkles a little and he looks down at the book again, searching for the page. "My mom would never do that."

Sam's not ready to accept all this, or maybe he can't. "Okay, but anyone that read the Chuck Shirley books would know…."

"Don't even get me started with that fucking guy," Sammy gets irrationally angry right off.

Thinking that reaction was odd, Sam pushes the issue. "What did Chuck ever do to you? Well, besides write the books."

Sammy sighs, eyes closed. Right… they still think Chuck is dead. And just a shitty writer. And not God. "That's one long ass story. We don't have time for all that."

"Why?"

Sammy glances at Sam. "Because not everyone thought me coming back in time to save mom was a good idea. And I think that disagreeing party might be coming for me… to take me back. I gotta get some shit done before that happens."

"Disagreeing party? Who?" Dean pries.

"Cassie!" Sammy slams a hand down on the book in front of him. "I don't have time to explain everything! Okay!? Cass didn't want me to do this but I did, so he'll probably be on his way the second he knows I'm gone! Moving on!"

Both brothers can tell this is a true issue with the serious look Sammy gives them along with his volume.

"Guess he really is our family," Sam comments with shock. A Winchester going against an angel, even a friend of an angel, makes Sammy fall right in like.

Dean steps forward, ready to dive in, but Sam holds an arm out in front of him to stop him.

"Just prove something to us," Sam continues to insist. "Something that we _know_ makes you Sammy. Without doubt."

"You still don't believe me!?" Sammy outrages.

"Clearly, you know what we've seen," Sam points out, using a calm voice so as not to upset Sammy any more. "So, you know we have to be cautious. We just want to be sure you're our Sammy, okay? I think that's fair. You prove who you are and we will help you with whatever you need."

"Fine. How about this?" Sammy opens his backpack and pulls out an old leather journal and slaps it onto the table. Immediately, the brothers know that journal. It's John's. It's more worn and torn but they know what they're seeing. Sammy keeps going. "How about this then?" Sammy pulls a leather cord necklace out of the neckline of his t-shirt, revealing that he's wearing the pendant Sam gave his brother on Christmas years ago and ended up in the trash after one bad trip to Heaven. "This good enough for you?" Sammy gets angry, pulling the neckline of his t-shirt to the side and lower, revealing the same tattoo that Sam and Dean both have on his upper chest.

Slowly, Dean reaches into the neck of his own shirt, producing the same necklace Sammy is wearing. The necklace Lizzy saved from the trash and gave him back. The necklace only he should have. "This is a one of a kind."

"Exactly," Sammy nods and stuffs his back into his shirt.

Silent for a beat, Dean does the same. "Well… I guess that kinda settles it, huh?" When Sam doesn't disagree, Dean tells the younger hunter, "What do you need, son?"

As Dean steps closer to Sammy, the boy's shoulders drop as he sighs with relief. Inside he wants to cry, finally feeling like he has his dad on his side. Finally. It's been so damn long since he's had that and right now… all he needs is his dad. He knows how young and weak that is but after everything… he needs his father.

"Thanks," Sammy awkwardly says to the open book, not making eye contact for fear of crying. "Uh… well… a lot has happened in my time. Cliffnotes version…." He points to a symbol on the old weathered page before them in the book he retrieved. "Mom had to take down a big bad and she did it using this."

"The Mark of Cain?" Dean asks, unfamiliar with what he's looking at. "The F-looking thing?"

"Yeah… along with the First Blade mom was able to take down a Knight of Hell that was pretty much poised to take over the planet and make it hell on Earth. Literally," Sammy explains as quickly as he can. "She got this branded on her arm and the second she got it she started to change."

"How?" Sam asks, sitting down at a chair at the table before nodding to one across from him. Sammy takes the hint and sits down also, Dean taking a chair next to him.

"She became… colder. Distant. She didn't spend as much time with me suddenly, she didn't really smile ever, and she was… angry. Really, really angry. All the time."

"Well, your mom did always have an anger problem," Dean explains lightly. "You wouldn't recognize the younger version of her. She was the reigning champ of bar fights."

Sammy's head snaps over to his dad. "You serious?" he asks with shock.

Dean huffs a laugh. "Once watched her drop a guy with one hit because he grabbed her ass and didn't listen when she told him to fuck off. It was awesome."

Sammy watches the flash of fondness and love across his father's face. It's nice to see that. It's been a long while.

"Well, this wasn't bar-fight-angry," Sammy tells him. "It was… beat-the-shit-out-of-good-people-over-next-to-nothing kind of angry. I watched her lose her shit while we were out at the grocery store together. I was four when I saw mom beat the crap outta some woman because she cut us in the checkout line. Just wailed on her in front of the whole store… in front of me."

"That's… disturbing," Sam says as he tries to process what he's told. "That's not like Lizzy."

"And that's what you both said when we came home and I told on her," Sammy says, staring at his dad. "You told me she wasn't like that. That mom wouldn't do that. You changed your tune when you saw her bruised knuckles later that night." Sammy exhales hard. "That was the most scared I had been up until that point in my life. I was fucking four."

The pain on Sammy's face is so familiar. Dean sees it on his own face every single time he looks in the mirror. He's seen so much, including the death of his own mother, and the idea that his boy could ever have the same and feel the same destroys him. Reaching over, Dean clamps a hand down on Sammy's shoulder to show him as much support as he can within the weird situation.

"After that it just got worse," Sammy tells him. "Mom would lock up in her room for hours or just leave for a day with no warning. She'd ditch me with you… wouldn't even say goodbye. I found out later it was because she was scared to be around me. If she was that angry… it wasn't good for me. Or safe. So at one point… she left all together."

"She just left?" Dean asks with wide eyes. "Lizzy left us?"

"For our safety, yeah," Sammy nods. "You know mom. Whatever it takes to keep her family safe she'll do it."

Dean now nods, knowing how right Sammy is. But this hurts. It doesn't make sense.

And this is where Sam steps in for good. He knows he has to hold this one together for all of them. Sammy's already too damaged and Dean is too disturbed by all he's hearing. "So… Lizzy gets the Mark of Cain on her arm. You mentioned the first blade."

"It's the blade Cain used to kill Abel," Sammy tells him. "The Mark and the Blade work together as the ultimate weapon. Can kill anything, even the shit the Colt can't off. It's pretty intense and that intensity is what fucked with mom enough to change her."

"So, the Mark is what made her a demon?"

"I think so," Sammy tells his uncle. "Mom ran off for a while but you guys went after her. I stayed with Jodie for a bit, until you told her to bring me back to the bunker. I was so excited to see mom again. It'd been months and even if she was angry before she left… I missed her so fucking much." He sighs. "But when I got here… you told me she was gone."

"Gone?" Dean asks.

"Dead," Sammy clarifies. "She fought that Knight of Hell and killed it. She then went after some rogue angel that was crazy strong for whatever reason… I think he might have closed heaven's gates or something, I don't remember. Let's just say… it didn't end well. She was stabbed through. She, uh… she died in your arms." He looks to his dad with a look of apology and utter sorrow.

"So, she's dead?" Sam asks, trying to figure this all out.

"Was," Sammy explains. "But the Mark wouldn't let her go. It brought her back to life somehow, not sure how." Sammy shifts in his seat and clears his throat, stalling for time as he gets control of his emotions. Saying this all out loud is bringing the very real, very sharp pain of it all back. "We were gonna burn her body out back and bury her there… by then we called this place home anyways. Seemed right. But when dad went to go get her from their room after you guys made the pyre… she wasn't there. Her body was gone."

"Gone to where?" Dean asks him.

"Everywhere. She was up and mobile. Once we realized she was actually alive you guys and Aunt Lou began tracking her. Some security footage showed her stabbing a guy with the First Blade outside a mall. He came at her with a knife first but that low level demon was no match for her. She killed him all too easily… and then flashed some back eyes at the security camera before driving off in a stolen Camaro."

"I don't get how that can happen," Sam admits.

"It's the Mark. It corrupted her completely. Its power comes from Lucifer himself. Not much trumps that. All I know is that shit changed her, turned her into something unrecognizable and… she's now a Knight of Hell that's taken over all of Hell." He laughs with disgust at everything, looking down at the table in front of him. "Fucking 18 years of this shit. She's been a demon almost my whole life."

Dean watches his adult son rub his eyes with pure stress and he's crushed for him. His son, his young kid that is pure happiness and love and all things good that Dean had never once assumed he could nurture in a child, is just a shadow of what he once was. He's worn and too old for his age. He's tired. He's broken and he's clearly had too much on his shoulders for too long. He's been an adult for too long….

"Damn it, you're me," Dean sighs under his breath as he sits back in his chair and rubs his own eyes much like Sammy just did. The realization that his boy turns out just like him, that Dean's number one nightmare comes true in the future, is horrifying. Not to mention his number two nightmare, anything happening to Lizzy, also comes true. Looking up at the ceiling, it being easier to do than look at his child that he failed, Dean tells him, "This is everything I didn't want for you."

"Then you shouldn't have had me," Sammy tells him with anger.

"What!?" Dean asks him with anger of his own.

"You heard me."

"Are you fucking nuts?"

"No, I'm not," Sammy stares right at his dad with fury. "You and mom should never have had me. I mean, you're fucking hunters. What the fuck did you think was gonna happen? I was gonna grow up well-adjusted and normal." He laughs with disgust. "I don't think so."

"Are you kidding me?" Dean asks him with outrage. "You're the best fucking thing we ever did with our crappy lives. How could you say that?"

Sammy stares at him with shock. "Your mom was a hunter. How'd that work out? You live a normal life?"

Dean says nothing.

"And your grandfather, Henry? Men of Letter. That work out any better for John? Or either of you?"

Still, no reply.

"I was doomed, okay? And you should have known that would be the case," Sammy fires out and stops himself there. He then takes a deep breath with balled fists. "Fuck this. I didn't come here to fight with you about the past. I came here to change it so that none of this shit happens."

"You have a plan?" Dean after a silence. Hearing his son wish to never have been born is too painful for him to let it actually in right now. Focus on the task at hand.

"I might," Sammy nods, opening his own journal. "I was thinking, since the Mark…."

A massive crash in the bunker from a room far off interrupts him.

Wide, horrified eyes flash over to the doorway. He knows already what's happening.

"Fuck!" Sammy shouts and jumps up fast, quickly pulling all the journals and books together and shoving them into his backpack.

"What's going on?" Sam asks, both brothers on their feet instantly.

"She followed me," Sammy answers quickly.

"Lizzy!?" Dean panics.

"We need to go. Now!" Sammy panics all the same, running around to a couple bookshelves and pulling a few important books from memory.

Dean sprints to the chair that he discarded his green army jacket on last night. The keys for the Impala are in there so he grabs it. They just need to get to the garage before….

"Oh! Look at this!"

Everyone freezes with the familiar voice that has a new ease and new sharp edge to it. All three look to the doorway between the map room and the library just in time to watch Lizzy, clad in a black leather jacket and some old grey jeans with her favorite Led Zeppelin shirt on. Boots heavily hitting the floor every step, she makes it up the handful of stairs and stops, looks over the group.

"Family fucking reunion," she grins evilly. "Ugh, I'm such a sap for a family get together. I should go run and get my camera to document this perfect little circle jerk."

No one moves, unsure of what to do. Dean's eyes snap onto Sammy. His son is frozen in place, fear in his expression.

Lizzy's eye land on Dean and her face lights up with desire as her eyes flash black. "Ooh, hubby. I forgot how fucking hot you used to be." She walks over to him with a smile, eyes staying black. Dean takes a few steps backwards when his heart nearly stops with the sight but she makes up the difference too fast. With a hand fisted into his t-shirt, she pulls him close. "Mm, we had so much fun together before all this mess. I miss it. I mean, I've done my fair share of fucking since I ditched your ass but… fuck me if anyone has ever held a candle to you."

Dean's mouth opens to speak but nothing comes out. It's been rare in life that he's ever been this scared.

"Aw, you missed me so much that you're fucking speechless. Hot damn. Didn't know Dean Winchester would ever be at a loss for words." With her free hand she runs her fingers through his hair, admiring him a moment. "I knew leaving you was a mistake. I should have just locked you up somewhere cozy… used you when I wanted to."

Her arm thrusts out to the side without even glancing in the direction. Telekinetically, Lizzy shoves Sam back into one of the library bookshelves, Ruby's knife dropping from his grip and clattering across the floor.

"Now, now, Sam-I-Am," she chides at him with a tsk as she uses her powers to keep him pinned to the shelving. "Is that any way to greet your best friend? All the talks through the years, the leaning on me and the shoulder you've cried on… and you could just stab me in the back like it never happened?"

"You're not her," Sam struggles out as the pressure keeping him there makes it hard to breathe.

"You know, I'm really not," Lizzy smirks, her fist still in Dean's shirt. He tries to pry her finger open and her hand doesn't budge. Lizzy doesn't even pay attention to his efforts as she knows he can't get her to let go. Instead she just keeps looking at Sam. "I'm a whole new Lizzy. I'm one unburdened by the bullshit that guilt and responsibility comes with. My life is way more fun now!" She laughs, something bone chilling to it.

Lizzy then looks back to Dean and sees his terrified expression. She blinks and her bright brown eyes return. "I sometimes forget how intimidating those things can be. This better, Baby?" She then cups his face with both hands. "Just like the old days, right?"

Dean shakes his head. "This isn't you."

"Yeah… uh, I think we _just_ went over that," she makes light of everything. "I'm a better me now. You'll learn to love me…."

"Leave him alone, mom," Sammy speaks up, trying to keep her voice steady as he attempts to get the focus on him for a moment. He's hoping to keep his dad and uncle safe if he can. It's not their fault that he dropped this on them and they have to survive in order to change this all.

Lizzy sighs heavily with annoyance and lets go of Dean for now. " _Son_ ," Lizzy scolds and turns to him. She walks a little closer to Sammy and stops walking a few feet from him. "Now, Samuel. What did mommy say about running away from her, hm?"

Sammy's eye narrow.

"You can run but, kiddo… you can't ever hide from me. Not for long. I am your mother after all."

"You haven't been my mother in years and you know it."

Lizzy's face gets serious. "Don't piss me of, Sammy. Not anymore than you already have. Or else I won't make this clean and painless."

"Why are you here?" Sammy asks boldly through the threat.

"I'm here for you, dear," she innocently replies, smiling at him like she used to when she was still just his loving mother.

"You're all talk," Sammy calls her out with certainty. "We both know you won't kill me…."

"Wrong!" she lights up with a wide smile. "I would _love_ to kill you."

"What?" Sammy asks with frightened confusion.

"Kiddo, you've been a fucking torn in my side forever and now I come to visit and find you trying to undo all I've accomplished." She steps closer and pokes him twice in the chest as she says, " _Not. Cool_. And I think you already know how I handle thorns in my side." She smirks again. "I pull them out… and then I crush them like bugs. After skinning them alive, of course. Right, Dean?" Lizzy looks over her shoulder and winks at her husband.

Dean's face pales when he knows that can't mean anything good.

"Oh. _Right_. You wouldn't know about the fun I had with you a few years back. Don't worry though, sweetheart. We'll get there." She blows him a kiss before turning back to face her son.

Sammy takes the moment to prepare himself. He glances off to the side and sees the sword on display that he remembers very clearly. With swift movements, Sammy grabs the sword off the bookshelf display.

When Lizzy turns back to Sammy she's taken completely by surprise when she's stabbed right through the middle with a long sword in Sammy's hands. She screams and falls to her knees, flashes of bright yellow and orange light streaking through her body and showing through her skin.

"Run!" Sammy shout at his family as he grabs his bag and bolts out of the room.

Sam drops from his pinned place once Lizzy's powered down a moment with the attack and he and Dean sprint after Sammy.

They follow him through the bunker to the garage, all the whole hearing Lizzy's screams of pain through the stark halls.

"What the hell was that!?" Dean asks as they reach the garage. He yanks open the driver's side door and Sam dives into the passenger seat. Sammy flies for the backseat.

"Just drive! She won't be down long!" Sammy yells as he pulls the door shut.

Dean turns the key and revs the engine, peeling out of the open garage doors that he thankfully forgot to close last night.

As they drive out the underground entrance, Sammy peers out the back windshield just in time to see Lizzy run into the room. She slows to a stop and watches them leave, her eyes flashing black as she grins maniacally at her son.

Sammy just turns around, knowing they're gone for now. She'll find then, he doesn't doubt that for a second, but he has some buffer time.


	3. Chapter 3

"What the fuck just happened!?" Dean shouts as he barrels down the long, remote Kansas highway after having just gotten away from Lizzy, knight of hell.

"Mom followed me and thank god you still had this fucking sword around," Sammy complains, pulling his personal journal from his bag in the backseat.

"What is that thing?" Sam has to know, thinking only Rudy's knife could affect a demon like that.

"A sword that's been etched with Kurdish spell work," Sammy answers quickly and without thought. He then mutters to himself, "How the fuck did she follow me?"

"Great!" Sam complains. "Now we have a Knight of Hell loose and we have no way to kill her."

"Knew I shouldn't have trusted that fucking douche bag…."

"What douche bag?" Dean asks, looking at his son in the rearview mirror as he drives too fast, his heart still racing with the encounter… and with the sight of Lizzy's black eyes still burned in his brain.

"Dylan… that fucker," Sammy bitches, looking up at his dad in the mirror. "Some hunter-slacker that sold me the last of his belladonna when I met up with him last week. Must have been weak shit though. I needed the real strong stuff. He swore it was. Fucking dick."

"So, weak belladonna means….?"

"Weak seal on the portal left behind me," Sammy explains. "The spell I used makes a portal from one time to another in the past but drops you right in the location you left from. I left the bunker kitchen in 2033 and arrived in the bunker kitchen in 2013. But when I left I did it quick."

"Because Lizzy found you," Sam takes a wild guess.

"Exactly. She broke into the bunker and I knew she was coming. I had some extra warding up but not much can hold her for long. She must have caught up and rode the portal. Fuck Dylan. I'm gonna gut that bitch when I see him again."

"I would," Dean agrees easily, the dishonesty worth an ass beating. "So, what now?"

"We have to get to mom. Like, _now_ ," Sammy tells them with urgency. "Where is she?"

"She's in Cape Cod with your aunt and… you," Dean answers.

"Then we need to head to Massachusetts," Sammy tells them, nodding to himself. We have to get to them before demon-mom does. She's probably already figured out where they are and is on her way. Dad, call her and tell her to find somewhere to hide and do it well."

"Shit, okay," Dean agrees and maneuvers to pull his phone out of his back pocket. He dials quickly and puts the phone to his ear. As it rings once, he panics. "Crap, what do I tell her?"

"Ask where she's staying and if there's somewhere off the grid they can get to fast from there," Sammy suggests. "They need to go underground. _Now_."

"Shit… hey! Uh, L," Dean stutters through once his wife picks up on the other end of the call. "How… how's the trip?"

" _Seriously_?" Sammy harshly whispers, outraged at the mess his father is right now. He's supposed to be a hunter of legend, not a nervous disaster.

"Me? Oh, uh… well, something kinda fucked up happened," Dean says, going for an easy voice that doesn't reveal panic. "Where are you guys staying…? Can you check out… and maybe disappear for a while?" His face winces when he gets an earful. "Look, L, some shit hit the fan. I can't go into it right now but please, trust me, you need to disappear for a little bit."

Sharing a look of sympathy with his brother, Sam knows the hell he's catching. After the Leviathan fiasco, asking Lizzy to go underground like that again is like asking for a damn divorce.

"No, I'm not…. L, listen to me…. Lizzy, just…." Dean pauses, pulls the phone away from his ear and sighs with frustration.

"We don't have time for this," Sammy mutters and swipes the phone from his father, reaching hastily over the back of the front seating.

"Hey!" Dean gets pissed.

"Lizzy," Sammy says into the phone, his tone authoritative and don't-fuck-with-me. "You need to take your family and disappear for a little bit. I know you know how to make that happen. You've done it before. I'm not fucking around here. Just take them, ditch wherever you are, and make yourself invisible until Dean calls you."

Dean's wide eyes watch closely through the rearview mirror, eyes snapping to the road every few seconds as he drives. Someone just talked to Lizzy like that. Damn.

"Who the hell am I?" Sammy repeats her question to stall for time. "Call me a concerned friend of the family. Dean will explain everything once this is over. Please, just get gone until you hear from us, okay? Can you do that for me? For your little boy?"

Sammy knows his mother well enough, or at least the woman she used to be. Making Sammy, her little man, the priority was the best bet he had.

"Thank you. No, I don't need to know where you are yet. Neither does Dean or Sam. Just go. We'll call you when we get close to meet up."

Hanging up, Sammy hands the phone back as if nothing happened.

"How did you do that?" Sam asks, awe in his eyes as he looks at the older version of his nephew.

"Do what?" Sammy asks, smirking a little with too much confidence as he pulls a book out of his backpack, getting to business.

"The last time I talked to Lizzy like that she nearly chopped my balls off," Dean adds in, agreeing with Sam and his shock.

"I know my mother… or who she used to be at least." The sadness in his tone isn't lost on his uncles. "I'm her priority. Give her the perspective of saving me then… she'll do anything."

Dean nods, impressed. His son does know his mother well. "Nice work."

"Dude, just get us to them as fast as you can," Sammy answers, looking down at the now open pages. He smiles for just a second after hearing praise from his dad. It felt good.

* * *

About a half hour after Dean started driving Sammy passed out in the backseat, one of the book he took with him wide open on his lap. He head is bent back, mouth wide open, and he could be dead he's so out of it.

"What the fuck, Sam?" Dean says quietly, not willing to wake his son from the future.

"I know…."

"No, seriously. What the fucking fuck, man?" Dean huffs with disbelief. "Is this actually what we have to look forward too? Sammy turning into me and Lizzy terrorizing us all?"

"Looks like," Sam nods, looking out the windshield at the road as it flies under their wheels.

Dean shakes his head. "This _can't_ happen."

Sam peers at his brother, noting the dark look on his face. The anger is covering up the sheer terror he's actually feeling under it all. "It looks pretty bad…."

"Pretty bad!? Dean outrages, a hash whisper flying from his mouth. "This is a fucking disaster!"

"I just don't get how this could happen," Sam admits. "Lizzy has never been this stupid. I mean, of all of us… Lizzy's the smartest in the heat-of-the-moment situations."

"Right?" Dean agrees. "I'm the one that fucks up this big. She's supposed to bitch at me and clean it up. She's not the mess maker."

"And she wouldn't normally take on something as big as the Mark of Cain without truly knowing and considering the consequences."

"Again…." Dean and Sam both point to Dean at the same time, knowing he's the hasty one.

"We need to find out more about this whole thing," Sam says, peeking into the back seat. He sees the second journal, not John's, lying next to Sammy's leg on the backseat. Without thinking, Sam moves slowly and reaches for it. He takes it with calculated moves.

"Don't wake him," Dean complains when he sees what Sam's up to.

"I won't," Sam bitches back in a whisper.

" _Don't_ ," Dean worries aloud again. "The kid's wrecked. I don't know what he's been up to lately but he's is completely destroyed. He needs the rest."

Sam carefully grabs the journal and sits back into his seat. Before opening it, he sighs while thinking. Turning to look at his brother, he asks, "When was the last time you felt _that_ tired?"

Dean observes Sammy asleep sitting up in the backseat. After the adrenaline rush of the previous moment he shouldn't be able to so deeply sleep so soon afterwards. It's not good. "Probably while on the run from the Leviathan. Between having to be paranoid about monsters, being on the run constantly, and Lizzy and I being a disaster… I barely slept."

"And Sammy's looking about as good as you did back then," Sam points out. "That means that what he's been through…."

"I can't think about that, Sam," Dean stops him right there. The unfathomable life he's let his child live is not something he can truly let his brain comprehend right now. And he knows he'll never forgive himself for it either. I couldn't. "We need to make sure that whatever this hellish freak show is… it doesn't actually happen."

"No shit," Sam mutters, opening the journal as he lets his nephew sleep off the nightmare he's been living while he's clearly feeling safe for what can only be the first time in a long time. He remembers days like that, when hunting and the life made him feel like nothing was sable and he was never truly safe. And then when he finally felt safe again, when Dean would drive them in the car or they'd hole up at Bobby's for a few days, he'd finally drift off and get that perfect sleep he needed so badly.

Sammy deserves to feel that as Sam's starting to think it's been an extremely long time since that's happened for him.

Diving into the journal, Sammy's handwriting all block letters and capitals not unlike his father's, the picture being painted is horrific. Worse than Sam could have imagined. Worse than they've seen before now.

"Dean… this is…." Sam pauses, shaking his head with shock and deep concern.

"What?" Dean needs to know, having been driving silently for an hour while Sam read. The nausea hits hard with Sam's speechlessness.

"She's… the Queen of Hell," Sam tells his brother.

"What!?" Dean fears loudly.

"Yeah. Queen of Hell. She killed Crowley in some huge battle and… since then she's ruled Hell. And from the way Sammy makes it sound… she's beloved."

"Demons love her?" Dean need to get straight.

"Definitely. And she's pretty damn successful. From what Sammy's written, Hell's united. It's a well-oiled machine and… it's winning."

"Winning what?" Dean has to wonder.

"Everything," Sam huffs a disbelieving sigh. "Deals are up, witches are throwing themselves at the cause left and right, the opposition is thinning… she's got a reputation. They call her the huntress."

"What does she hunt?"

"Hunters." Sam glances to his side and shares a look with his brother, one laces with fright.

"She hunts hunters?" Dean has to be sure.

"Yes. She, uh… well, according to this… she started with you," Sam just gets it over with.

Dean's face pales. "Me?"

"She took you from the bunker one night when Sammy was ten," Sam says while flipping to the first page. "He started his journal right after that. You went missing, I knew Lizzy was behind it, so Lou took him and went on the run. I went after you."

Dean grows very silent after that. He'd been asking minimal questions, mostly listening, but now it feels like he couldn't speak if he wanted to. Lizzy took him? From their son? Even as a demon, Dean can't picture Lizzy doing such a thing.

"And…" Sam keeps peaking, flipping a few pages. "Apparently, I found you. Skinned alive and dead for days in some warehouse in Topeka."

"She… _killed_ me?" Dean needs clarification.

"Yeah," Sam says with a heavy voice. "She… kept you for days before… choosing to torture you first. What the hell? Sammy wrote this when he was eleven. Lou told him how it went down!?"

"Sammy… he's been alone since he was eleven," Dean shakes his head.

"Sounds like he had Lou with him," Sam cuts in. "They stayed a step ahead of Lizzy after she offed us."

" _Us_!?"

"You didn't think her taking and torturing you was a trap for me?" Sam eyes his brother knowingly.

"Guess some things don't change," Dean comments quietly.

"And she knew that," Sam nods. "So, she got to both of us and that left Lou with Sammy. Lou made sure to stay hidden as it's the only thing she could do on her own with a kid. After a while… sounds like Lou lost her mind. Hard to tell. Once Sammy hit seventeen he was hunting on his own and Lou isn't mentioned much. Just a couple times here and there when Sammy would visit her. He'd say something like, 'Lou's still lost it' or "Aunt Lou isn't getting any better.' She just kinda… gave up."

"Doesn't sound like Lou," Dean says with certainty. "She wouldn't let Sammy deal with all this on his own."

"Dean, her demonic sister killed her husband," Sam points out the bleakness of Lou's future. "Hell, I'd lose my shit if that happened to me."

Again, Dean says nothing. He just looks at Sammy in the back seat sleeping. He looks like a young twenty year old kid… unlike the world-worn man he appeared to be when he arrived in their time. It's now clear to him how old Sammy really is, much older than his license claims… if he even has a real, legitimate license. He had his childhood stolen, just like his father did.

"Basically… it's Sammy versus all of Hell," Sam exhales hard with the very idea. "He's just… going it alone at this point. Going against his own mother."

It's then that Sam realizes the Impala is pulling over to the side of the road. When the wheels come to a stop, Sam just stares at his big brother and waits while he rubs at his face. Head hung, brow wrinkled, Dean looks up and meets Sam's eyes. He's falling apart on the inside.

"We'll fix it," Sam promises him before he can air a single concern.

"What if we can't?" Dean plays a little Devil's advocate.

"We'll fix it," Sam repeats, his voice stern and sure this time. "What other choice do we have? We won't let this happen to Lizzy. We owe her how many times over, man? And to know that we failed her? No fucking way. We'll fix this, Dean."

"He can't grow up like this," Dean's voice whispers quietly, his tone unsteady as his jaw clenches. "Sam, he can't. This is everything I said I'd never let happen to him."

"We won't let this happen," Sam promises his brother. "Sammy won't know any of this crap. He'll grow up just a kid, going to school and college. He'll have a house and a life. Dean, I swear."

Dean nods once and washes a very shaky hand down his face. "We gotta stay away from her." He won't say the name Lizzy. That thing that came after his son was _not_ his wife. That was _not_ Lizzy.

"Which is why we're headed to grab everyone and go underground," Sam reminds him.

"Yeah. But we gotta ward the place with the strongest shit we got…."

"And that's why Sammy grabbed the Men of Letters book chronicling every protective symbol and talisman they knew of. I saw him shove it into his bag before we escaped."

"Good," Dean relaxes just a touch at that. He then glances at Sammy in the mirror again. "He's a smart kid."

"Did you think he wouldn't be?" Sam partially smirks as he looks over the bench seat to see the stuffed backpack by Sammy's feet. "You drive and I'll start looking through the book for anything that might keep a Knight of Hell away. We need to get to work the second we get there."

Dean nods again as Sam grabs Sammy's entire backpack to look through while the kid naps. As Dean remains still and quiet, Sam realizes something is still wrong.

"What?" Sam asks him, unsure why they aren't moving towards their family again yet.

"I can't hurt her," Dean admits, looking at Sam with terrified, little boy eyes. "If she finds us… I can't…."

"She won't find us, not until we're ready," Sam says in a way that makes Dean trust him. "We got this. We always do."

"But it's L," Dean reminds him. "You know I can't…."

"That's why we're gonna try to fix her. Not end her." He points at the wheel. "Drive. We have work to do."

Dean thinks for a split second and reaches for the key still in the ignition. He turns the engine over to restart the car and then pulls back onto the road, trying his best to focus on the asphalt and the soft sounds of Zeppelin playing over the tape deck instead of the image of a black eyed Lizzy burned into his mind.

* * *

Address given when he called Lizzy an hour out of the Massachusetts border, Dean pulls the Impala up to the old farmhouse she directed them to. It's seen better days, the white paint peeling and roof sagging a touch in the middle, but it's remote and on the outskirts of a western Massachusetts town.

"This place is a dump," Sammy comments as he gets out of the backseat, looking up at the old house.

"Yeah, it's not great," Dean replies to it, just as disappointed. "But hey, if L says it's safe then it's safe. And it's all we got in a pinch."

"Still better than any of the places I've been squatting in the past… uh… well, long while," Sammy spills as he slings his backpack over his shoulder, a half smirk on his face. "Call it the Four Seasons if it has heat and running water."

Dean keeps his mouth shut on the statement despite his heart breaking a little more with it.

Sam pulls a bag from the trunk once Dean unlocks it. It's the bag they always have packed and stowed, just in case. Basic clothes and toiletries. Dean then grabs an empty duffle and starts loading it up with salt, rosary beads, guns, ammo, knives, and anything else that might be helpful to them.

All the while, Sammy just stands in place, looking around the sprawling farmland around them. He doesn't make a single step towards the front door as he can't find it in him to do so.

When Dean slams the trunk shut, he locks it up and slings the bag over the same should Sammy has his. At that moment he watches as his wife opens the front door.

"Took you long enough!" she smiles despite the danger she knows they all must be in. She has Sammy, the three year old boy, on her hip as she makes her way down the front wrap-around porch steps so therefore she keeps her attitude light and happy. They still have yet to let him know that anything ugly or dangerous exists and they want to keep that going.

"Watch it, woman," Dean jokes back but doesn't miss the way Sammy sharply turns his back to her the second he sees her and closes his eyes.

Shoulders tense, Sammy tries to keep his breathing easy and regulated. The sight of his mother, his real mother, walking down those step with the younger version of him in her arms… it's too much. It's too real and it's everything he's lost in his life that he misses and needs most.

Making a pit stop on his way to Lizzy, Dean drops a shoulder on Sammy's shaking one. "Are you okay? If you're not, I'd get it…."

"Need a minute," Sammy just says to the ground below his boots before closing his eyes again.

"I'll get her inside and you come in when you can," Dean pats his shoulder and walks for his wife. He hugs her tightly, mindful of his young son in her hold, and sighs heavily. After the confrontation with his future demonic wife it's very good to see her as her normal self.

"Ugh… little tight," Lizzy jokes with his harsh hold on her.

"Sorry," Dean smiles and tries to hide his concerns. He pulls back and reaches for his small son, the little boy's arms reaching for him immediately. "What's going on, dude?"

"Hi, daddy!" Sammy smile wide. "We see-ed the ocean!"

"Nice! You see any sharks?"

"Dean!" Lizzy gets mad right away, her son having been scared of sharks ever since her husband let the kid watch Shark Week shows with him. "We worked on the whole shark thing for days. He's finally over it…."

"There no sharks there, daddy," Sammy says in a sure voice. "Only fish."

"That's good. I'd hate for you to get your toes eaten!" Dean jokes and grabs his son's bare, dangling foot and tickles it.

Sammy howls with laughter as the future version of himself still stands with his back to them, trying not to lose it. He wipes his cheek once very hastily as a single tear drops, the whole thing making him long for what could have been if it weren't for Lizzy's one very bad decision. This used to be them. This was beautiful. This should have been his life.

"Hey, Lizzy," Sam smiles and hugs her, kissing her cheek in greeting. She does the same back.

"Hey Sam." She then nods to the stranger that got out of their car with them but hasn't so much as come closer to say hello. "Who's that?"

"Uh… hunter," Dean spits out quickly. "He's the one that tipped us off about something coming our way. He's gonna work with us on this one."

"Weird. Okay," Lizzy nods, trusting the brothers' judgment. "You guys hungry? Lou's finishing up dinner."

"We need to get to work first," Dean tells her. "We gotta get this place safe, like, yesterday."

Lizzy's face darkens. She presses hands over Sammy young ears before asking, "What the fuck is going on, Dean?"

"Let's go inside," Dean nods to the house and starts walking.

Getting a terrible feeling in her stomach, Lizzy sighs. She looks to the stranger, his back still turned. "Hey, uh…."

"Give him a minute," Sam suggests lightly, bringing an arm around Lizzy's shoulders and guiding her to the front door. "He's had a rough run."

"What the hell is happening, Sam?" Lizzy asks quietly, but not quietly enough for older Sammy to hear.

He listens to the excuses his uncle gives as they all disappear into the farmhouse. Once gone, Sammy lets out a deep breath he's been holding. Seeing his mother again was… numbingly terrifying. And impossible. How the hell is he supposed to do this? Be close to her and not fear her after decades of horror created by the demonic version of her?

"Get your shit together, Winchester," Sammy finally says to himself and shakes out his body. He has to do this. He came back for this reason, to save his future and his mom. Standing in a dirt driveway isn't going to help anything, especially since that Knight of Hell is absolutely on her way. They have work to.

Breathing in once, holding it for ten second, Sammy exhales and starts walking for the house. He doesn't let himself stop to rethink. If he did he'd probably dive into his dad's car and ditch out of fear. He plows through the front door and stands there, stopping them several pairs of eyes land on him as they sit around the dilapidated living room on the old, warped furniture.

"Uh… so, this is… Dave," Dean tells the room, lying. "He's the one that's helping us out…."

"His name's not Dave," Lizzy very quickly calls her husband out as her eyes are glued to the young man standing in the doorway.

No one speaks as she slowly stands up, eyes never leaving the newcomer's face.

"I know who you are," Lizzy says, certain as she walks for him. When she's standing right in front of him, looking up to his six-plus foot height, taking in the green eyes and the dark, short, and styled hair… she knows in her heart who she's looking at. He looks like her husband and in her heart she can feel that he's hers. Her eyes water over. "Oh, Sammy… baby, why are you here?"

And Sammy breaks. Of course she knew. She needed one look at him and she knew. He's her son and she was always the best, most loving, most devoted mother. A mom always knows their child.

Chin quivering once, Sammy's voice cracks. "Mom," he barely gets out before his eyes spill over. He nearly slams into her and wraps her up in his arms, pulling her in tightly as he loses it.

Heart pounding with fear, Lizzy holds him close, one hand patting his hair like she does to the young version of him that she knows so well. Heart shattering for what she's seeing of her little boy, she struggles to breathe through the fear and pain she's feeling. "Sweetheart, what's going on?"

"I missed you so much," is all Sammy can get out, his face turned into her hair as he stands there and cries, feeling something he hasn't in twenty years. He didn't want this to be the way it happened, but he can't help himself. He needs his mother so much. The big, badass hunter with a reputation that could shatter his dad and uncle… needs his mom more than anything.

Lizzy now crying right along with him, she just holds on tighter. "Baby, it's okay. Whatever it is… it's okay…." She doesn't know if it's true of not, but she wants to make it better. No matter his age, she just wants the best for her boy.

Sammy has so much to say, so much to make up for… but he can't. Instead he takes the moment to be that little boy he once was and never got to be for long and hangs onto his mother, getting the comfort he so desperately needs.


	4. Chapter 4

"This makes no sense whatsoever," Lizzy dismisses everything as they all sit together around the kitchen table in the old farmhouse. "No. That _can't_ be what happens to us."

Sammy's head is still hung a little low, as it has been the entire confession. Telling his mother about the major mistake she makes that become the possible ending of the world is probably the hardest thing he's ever done… and considering his life is just a series of doing things that are incredible hard to do that's not good.

"It's what he says happens," Dean reminds his wife that can't seem to stop staring at the older version of their child. "And I saw what came into the bunker after him. It was a black-eyed bitch hell-bent on killing all three of us and, Liz… she looked an awful lot like you."

"But you're sure it's me and not just a demon riding my ass," Lizzy tries once more to get Sammy to give her a different answer.

"I'm sure, mom," Sammy quietly answers, barely looking at her as the guilt hits.

"This is insane," Lou shakes her head and sits back in her chair, sighing loudly. "No fucking way." Sam grabs her hand under the table from where they sit together, knowing she's also having a difficult time accepting this whole thing. Lou is stubborn and determined. Finding out she gives up on her own nephew in the future due to how bleak and terrible it is… this is not settling with her at all.

"I know how this has to sound," Sammy finally looks up a little, scanning the room at the younger-than-he's-used-to faces. Collectively there's a whole lot less wrinkles and gray hair. They look so young and vibrant. When he last saw his dad, he was a disaster. His uncle Sam was a panicked mess heading out to find his brother. And Lou… couldn't even form coherent thoughts as she wasted away in a nursing home once her brain broke on her. His family is a family again. They're alive and well again.

"Insane," Lizzy comments with upset.

Sammy then looks at his mother for the first time in a long stretch during this miserable confessional. "I never wanted it to come to this. I never wanted to have to come here and tell you all this. I knew it'd break your heart."

Lizzy's face wrinkles. "You're worried about _me_? I'm the reason all this shit happened!"

"Mommy, you don't say that!" Sammy, the young kid sitting in his father's lap, chimes in.

"Sorry baby," Lizzy forces a smile at his innocent little face. "You always try to help me out, don't you?"

"Yeah," child-Sammy answers as Lizzy glances to her adult son, making sure he understands that she's speaking of him at all ages.

Adult-Sammy just smiles. "I've never really blamed you for this, mom." Mom. It still feels so good to say.

"How could you not?" she needs to know.

"Well… you were just trying to do the right thing," Sammy shrugs. "Back when you took on the Mark you had no idea what it would do to you. Your focus was on killing Abaddon before she worked up enough power to really destroy the planet… and destroy any hope you had for a future for your son."

"But isn't that what I ended up doing anyways once the Mark changes me?"

"Yeah, but… at least as a demon you had a plan. Abaddon was just havoc and pain. You were still you to an extent, you were still smart and you planned ahead. Even as a demon you were still… you. Kinda," Sammy explains. "I mean, you had ton of chances to kill me… but you never did. Even back at the bunker I doubted that you were actually going to kill me. I'm your weak spot."

"You always were," Lizzy grins a little, patting his handsome face twice on the cheek. Sammy smiles back, looking ready to break once more, before she keeps going. "So, what now? I assume she's on her way here." Referring to herself as she… weird.

"She definitely is. She's pissed that I came back to change things. Clearly, she doesn't want that, so we need to stay hidden until I can reach out to someone to help me break the curse."

"Curse?" Sam asks.

"Yeah, the Mark is just a curse. All curses can be broken."

"Breaking a curse. We can do that. Let's move," Dean smiles, standing up and bringing young Sammy with him, settling him on his hip.

"First, we need to completely disappear," Sammy reminds. "Everyone keep the hex bag I gave you on you at all times. Don't lose it!"

Dean checks that little Sammy has his around his neck, his hex bag on a cord so it's easier for him to keep it on him.

"Second, I need you all locked down while I go grab an expert that can help us."

"No way," Dean immediately says with a don't-fuck-with-me voice.

"No way?" Sammy asks.

"Yeah, no way. Not alone."

"Dad…"

"Sammy, no!" Dean puts his foot down. "I don't care if you're three years old or ninety with a bad hip. I've seen her and you're _not_ going alone. I'm coming with you."

"Me too," Sam adds in and stands up also, joining his brother in united stubbornness.

"It's not a good idea," Sammy refuses, once more packing his things up into his canvas backpack. "Anything happens to you guys then the whole future could be rewritten."

"Well, too fucking bad," Sam speaks up easily, completely with Dean in their need to not sit by and let their youngest member of the family do everything on his own. "The future doesn't sound all that great anyways."

"Yeah, and we tend to get out of sticky situations relatively alive," Dean smirks at his brother.

"Until the day that you didn't," Sammy strongly interrupts them.

"According to the future, that's not for a few more years. We'll be okay," Sam assures despite not really being able to.

Shaking his head with disbelief, Sammy works past it. He knows it's never worth fighting a Winchester man once their mind is made up. The only thing worse than a Winchester man, though…?

"Fuck that!" Lizzy stands up quickly. "We're all going! I'm not letting my son leave without a whole army behind him."

A Winchester woman.

"Jesus!" Sammy yells with exasperation. "First of all, enough with the swearing in front of little me. I have the worst gutter mouth ever. Let's just change that in the future, huh?"

"Don't deflect!" Lizzy scolds, knowing that age old tactic they've all used before. "You're not going alone."

"Fine. Then we compromise," Sammy speaks loudly, hoping to have everyone's attention. "Dad and Uncle Sam, you come with me. Mom and Aunt Lou, you stay with… well, me. Little me. You protect Sammy and find somewhere to hide out. If she gets to me now then… what's the point of all this anyways, right?"

Clenching her jaw for a moment, Lizzy sighs with defeat. Lou can see how hard it is for Lizzy to accept this so she steps in for her, her phone out as she had been searching for hiding spots already. "There's an abandoned elementary school just around the corner. They have an old bomb shelter from the fifties. We're go there, ward it up, lock down." Lou looks at her sister, waiting for an agreement. Lizzy nods once, eyes always on her future son with worry.

Sammy's shoulders drop and he breathes out, smiling slightly. "Thank you, Louie. And mom. I know you wanna come with so… thank you for staying behind."

"You get killed and I'll never forgive myself, you know that," Lizzy points out.

Sammy smiles with pure love. "I know." It just felt so nice to hear her care so damn much again.

"Alright. This is too heavy. I'm calling Cass. He might know what else we can do," Lizzy mentions, pulling out her phone from her back pocket.

"No!" Sammy shakes his head, pointing at her. "Don't do that!"

"Uh… why?" Lizzy asks, very confused why their angel wouldn't be helpful.

"Because… he's… not available for this." Sammy looks incredibly guilty.

Lizzy gives him a knowing look. "What's wrong with Cass? And how would you know? This isn't your time."

Sammy shakes his head. "I don't have time to explain this one. Just know that… he can't be in on this one. He just can't." Lizzy opens her mouth to respond but Sammy cuts her off. "We ready to get outta here?"

"Yeah. Let's all scatter before any demons catch up…." Dean starts to say as a shadow comes across the doorway of the house.

"Too late," an older man with a white hair and beard along with denim overalls on smiles, black eyes on the full room.

Sammy steps forward, shoulders squared and his temperament calm. "How many of you?"

"Not gonna spoil the surprise like that, Sammy-boy," he grins.

"Alright, well… we're surrounded. Great," Sammy laments. "You looking for a fight or something?"

While Sammy stalls, Dean hands his young son off to his mom. Lizzy then creeps back into a corner while her family stands in front of her.

"Who's that, mommy?" Sammy asks from perched on her hip.

"Shh, sweetie," Lizzy shushes him, holding him tighter and angling his head away from the commotion. She can't let him see anything that's most likely about to go down.

"This place was warded," Lou mentions. "How'd your ass get in?"

"Window in the back. You must have forgotten that one," the demon winks.

"Well, alright then," Sammy calmly says, accepting their current situation for what it is. With one fluid, fast movement, Sammy's arm reaches behind himself and pulls out a knife. He throws it with impressive accuracy, the blade burying itself in the demon's chest. He lights up, orange flashes under his skin, before he collapses dead on the floor.

"Whoa," Dean comments with wide, shocked eyes on his son. His speed, his confidence, his natural ability… impressive. "Nice shot."

"We're gonna need more than a single nice shot," Sam complains, marching for the window. Peeking through broken shutters, he sees the several people, all with black eyes, surrounding the house. "At least a dozen, probably more."

"Arm up," Sammy tells them all as he grabs the knife handle and yanks it from the demon's unmoving body. He stands tall, flips it expertly once, and looks to his family. "Meet me out there to catch the stragglers."

Sammy bolts out the front door, knife in hand, and he's gone.

"Sammy!" Dean yells, horrified. He rushes for the door to go after him.

"Dean! You need a weapon!" Sam shouts to stop him, rushing for the duffle bag they brought in. He grabs up the couple of sawed-offs they have, preloaded with salt rounds, and tosses one to Lou. He then hands Dean an angel blade and they sprint for the door to back Sammy up while Lizzy stays inside with the younger Sammy.

The second Dean hits the front porch, Sam and Lou right behind him, they're blinded by a massive blue light that flashes through the air surrounding them. They all block their eyes with their arms and can feel the immense force as the pure light blasts through the air.

Once the moment passes, the air around them returning to its still, hot summer humidity, they all look around them.

Roughly fifteen demons lay scattered about, all burnt out from the inside with scorched and empty eye sockets.

"What the hell?" Dean quietly asks, eyes roaming about as he tries to process what he's seeing.

"What was that?" Sam asks, shocked and wide eyes also darting around.

"Sammy!" Lou yells and points to the middle of the front yard.

All three see the young man on his knees on the grass, his head hung with exhaustion as he's in the middle of the blast zone.

"Sammy!" Dean calls his name, racing for him. The second he gets close he dives for the ground, grabbing Sammy's face and lifting it to look at him. His eyes are closed and he's completely drained. "Sammy! Say something! Sammy!"

"Relax… dad," Sammy quietly says, a tiny smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. He inhales deeply. "It's all good now."

"What was that?" Dean asks him, not letting go of his face as he searches Sammy's form, looking for injury.

"Weapon," Sammy tells him, still breathing deeply and trying to regain his strength. "Blows all demons away within an immediate radius. Pretty fucking neat, huh?" He grins, trying to relax his father.

"Neat!?" he asks with fear. "You look wrecked."

"Gotta… tap my soul for it," Sammy vaguely explains. "I'll be fine. Just get me into the car and let's go. I'll be good in about an hour. We gotta go. They know where we are."

"Dude, I don't think…."

"Dad! Let's go!" Sammy shouts with annoyance, attempting to stand up on his own but failing. Dean catches him as he falls. "I'm leaving with or without you."

"Fine," Dean gives in and looks to his brother. "Sam, get him to the car."

Together they help Sammy walk for the Impala and put him into the backseat. By then Lou, Lizzy, and little Sammy are standing on the porch together.

"We're leaving," Sam tells them while Dean starts the car. Lou hands him their bags and Sammy's backpack he arrived with. "Thanks. Keep your phones on. Head for the school and ward up."

"We will," Lou nods. Sam leans down and gives her a very quick kiss on the lips before sprinting for the car.

As Sam gets in, Lizzy and Dean make eye contact.

"Watch him!" Lizzy yells to her husband, speaking about their son from the future.

"Same. Get gone!" Dean yells back and he pulls out of the long gravel driveway, disappearing into the night.

"Come on," Lou says to her sister, already walking for their own car. She's ready to get the hell out of their if that was just the first wave of demons coming for them.

"Louie…."

Lou stops and turns around, seeing Lizzy scan the front yard and the damage done.

"What the hell happened out here?"

"Sammy said he had some weapon or something…."

"Look," Lizzy points to the middle of the circle of dead demons. In the center of the blast zone, right where Sammy was knelt, there's a large burn mark in the grass extending out the sides.

Walking slowly over to the odd shape, when she gets closer she can make out what it is. Her heart drops with fear.

When Lou comes to stand next to her she sees it also.

The blackened, burnt grass on either side of where Sammy had been make out the shape of very distinct, very large angel wings.

"You seeing that?" Lizzy asks with too much fear.

Nodding, Lou answers. "Yeah."

"What… what the fuck does that mean?" Lizzy wonders, looking at her little boy in her arms and back at the clear angel wings on the ground.

"I… uh, I don't know," Lou admits with serious concern.

"Did he tap into an angel's grace or something?" Lizzy continues to panic, staring at the scorch marks. "Because… you don't think the Nephilim line in him… he didn't do that himself. Right?"

A rock of dread in her stomach, Lou decides quickly that it's best to lie right now. "No way. That's nuts. But you heard what Sammy said. We need to go. We can ask him about this later."

Lizzy nods, peering at the burned outline of angel wings, they are very clearly angel wings, before walking for their car in the gravel driveway. No time to overthink about it right now.

* * *

 **I apologize again for how long it takes for updates. I know I've lost some readers. Totally sucks. But hey, gotta do what I gotta do, right? Please hang in there!**


	5. Chapter 5

"What the hell are we doing here?" Dean asks, looking up at the old, immaculate hotel on 55th Street in New York City.

"Getting our help," Sammy explain quickly, backpack still slung over his shoulder as he peers into the front doors of the St. Regis Hotel. "A specialist. She's in there."

"She?" Sam questions.

"Yeah. Her name's Rowena," Sammy says, the disdain in his voice obvious.

"Rowena?" Dean echoes with confused dislike. "What the hell kinda name is that?"

"It was popular in the seventeenth century," Sammy remarks offhandedly, eyes still observing the building while internally planning. The way he says it makes it clear he's a wealth of information and that he's got a bit of his uncle, Sam, in him. "I'm gonna go out back and look for another way in. You guys take the front."

"Whoa!" Dean stops him, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back when he tries to walk away. "Alone?"

"Dad…."

"Don't _dad_ me," Dean bitches right away, falling into the role of father-with-an-adult-son all too easily. "If this chick can help us with a knight of Hell then I'm assuming she's pretty powerful."

"She is." Sammy shrugs.

"So, maybe going in alone wouldn't be such a good idea," Sam adds in, backing Dean up as usual.

Sammy sighs. He's getting sick of this. "Guys, look… you're good at what you do. Probably the best for your time. But things have changed in the past twenty years. I know a whole lot more than you both do. It's not a diss on you. It's just the facts. I can handle this alone."

"Sammy…."

"Don't _Sammy_ me," Sammy smirks at his dad. "You saw what I did to that hoard of demons at the farmhouse. That was nothing. I'm fine. You two watch each other's' backs and I'll catch up to you."

Again, Sammy makes a move to leave but he's stopped.

"Wait," Sam rolls his eyes a bit as he side-steps Sammy and blocks him. "You mind sharing the plan first?"

Nodding, Sammy pauses. "We just need to talk to her."

"You want us to just tell some rich bitch in a five-star joint that we need her help killing a Knight of Hell?" Dean questions with doubt. "Yeah, I'm sure that'll go well."

"Stop… not kill," Sammy says while looking away from his family.

"You think we can save Lizzy still?" Sam asks his nephew.

Sammy doesn't answer. He knows the chances are slim but he has to hope. He has to or else this whole thing has been for nothing to him personally.

"There's a good chance that we're not gonna be able to save Lizzy," Sam spells it out, looking at Dean also. "We all need to understand that."

Neither answer.

"Guys. We need to do what we have to…."

"She's all I got left!" Sammy reminds his uncle. "All I got left is saving mom and… bringing her home." His voice grows quiet at the end, the emotions of everything still strong and crippling.

The Sam's have a stare-off for a moment before the elder speaks up. "We will try to save her. Try. There's no promise that it can happen though and you both need to be prepared for however this thing goes down." He isn't okay with it himself but someone needs to focus and accept fate.

Sammy can't deal with this now. "Whatever. She's in room 729. Meet me up there." He takes off running down the side alley.

"Great," Dean laments, looking around the busy New York streets and then back into the posh hotel lobby. He washes a hand down his face in frustration.

"So… what? We just walk in and head to the room?" Sam asks out loud what he's wondering.

"Yeah, and knock on the door and say, 'hey, we need your help with a Knight of Hell whoever-you-are'," Dean complains. "I mean, I guess."

Sam nods, feeling uncomfortable with this plan already. He then observes the people moving about in the upscale lobby and then looks down at himself. A hand pressed to the breast pocket of his torn, old canvas jacket and he knows this won't work. "We can't just walk in there."

"Why not?" Dean wonders.

"Look at us. We'd stick out like…."

"A hooker at a convent," Dean finishes for him. "Damn it. Fed suits?"

"Are they in the trunk?" Sam asks.

"Never took 'em out from the last case."

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

Suits on, Dean and Sam walk into the lobby with confidence. Their dad always taught them that if you act like you belong there, then you belong there. It's how a hunter fits in wherever the case takes them.

No one spares them a second look that they notice so they easily make their way to the lobby elevators. Pushing the up arrow, they stand and wait. Neither speak. They went over what they could at the car while changing. They're just going to pretext the specialist like they always do, nothing new.

Doors opening, they get into the elevator. Sam politely holds the door for two women running in their heels towards them and they get in.

"Thanks," the dark-haired woman, dressed in a couture dress and mink coat, tells him. She looks up at his height and smiles wider when she sees his face.

"Welcome," Sam nods once and steps back. The two women stand side by side, facing the gold reflective doors, the brothers behind them.

When the bell rings, indicating they elevator car has hit the seventh floor, the doors slide open. Dean smiles at the upper-class women.

"Excuse us," he winks and steps past them when they make room. Sam follows.

They hear the doors close behind them as they make their way down the long hall. Looking at the numbers on the room doors as they pass, Sam points ahead. "729 should be right up there."

The second they get to the door hit. The invisible force blows them into the hallway wall opposite room number 729. Backs slamming hard into the solid surface, both groan with pain as they remain pinned there.

"And where do you two think you're going?" they hear a feminine voice ask. Turning to the side, they see the two women from the elevator walking casually towards them.

"Ugh," Sam exhales hard as he tries to overcome the hit. "A friend."

"In room 729?" the woman with the mink coat asks. "I doubt that."

"We need to speak with her," Dean explains through a struggling voice, still pinned to the wall. "We need her help."

After a quick beat of silence both women start to laugh.

"Help you?" mink coat giggles patronizingly. "Rowena doesn't just help _men_."

"But… she's a specialist…" Sam tries to explain as he and Dean start to get very concerned about their situation but gets cut off.

"You could say that," one of the women nods as she waves her hand through the air.

Dean and Sam are let free, both released from the force keeping them against the wall.

Mink coat walks for room 729 and turns the doorknob. She pushes the door open and grins.

"Come on in, lads," a lovely voice, thick with a Scottish accent, calls out from inside. "Let me see who it is that came looking for me."

With wrinkled brows and confusion in their expressions, Sam and Dean look to one another before walking slowly and cautiously to the door.

The ornate room, the kind of room that neither Winchester assumed they'd ever step foot into, is huge with multiple rooms. Sitting on the upholstered couch, classical music softly playing in the background, is a petite red-headed woman. Her long, curled hair is half the size of her. The long, dark blue dress with long sleeves that hugs her perfectly looks expensive. The casual way she sips her tea, the china and sterling tea set places on the coffee table for her, makes her look like she absolutely belongs within the high society situation she's in.

"Well," she smiles wide, her lined eyes taking in the two men in front of her. "Aren't you two just the dapper pair. A girl could feel down right special getting a visit from the likes of you two."

"Are you Rowena?" Dean asks, jeebs running down his spine. This whole thing is jacked. It's unsettling as hell and just from the vibe he gets from Sam next to him he knows he's not alone in thinking it.

"Ah, you've heard of me," she smiles a little wider. "I'm flattered."

"We were sent here to ask for your help," Sam gets right down to it, hoping for a good outcome but not exactly expecting it.

"My word, the confidence on this one," she says with impressed glee as she stands up and walks a little closer. "What makes you think I want to help you, hm?"

Neither know exactly what to say to that.

"Boys, I'm guessing you must not know who I am since you're just walking in here like you aren't in the presence of greatness." Rowena's smile is proud yet kind… but the feeling she's giving off is frightening. "Who is it that told you to come and so rudely ask for my assistance?"

Again, they both say silent.

"I think we're going to have to try that one again, yes?" she asks lightly. She says something in a language the hunters have never heard before and in a blink, they're invisibly yanked up to the ceiling, once more having their backs slam into a hard, flat surface.

Suspended in the air, pinned to the ceiling, Dean's heart rate soars. Flashes of his mother appear in his mind and the sheer fright nearly topples him before he can regain control.

"Now, the last men I had up on the ceiling of my hotel room… well, let's just say they didn't walk out on their own two feet," Rowena tells them, her voice never straying from the lighthearted tone she's had the entire time. Her eyes darken. "Who sent you to me?"

"I did."

The whole room turns to look at whoever just walked in.

Sammy stands in the doorway, grinning. He holds a rounded, gold sphere in his hand, it resting in his palm, and he speaks a few words. Once again, the language sounds unfamiliar to the hunters. The sphere lights up and a blue glow envelopes the room. A sound, high pitched and almost piecing, emanates from the weapon.

Immediately everything stops. The force holding Sam and Dean to the ceiling disappears and the two fall from the high height, landing on their stomachs with groans of pain.

"What… what is that _thing_!?" Rowena yells out over the sound, her feet glued in place.

Sammy speaks a few more foreign words and the sphere stops. The room is set back to its calm previous state.

"It's the future of witch hunting," Sammy grins wide, pulling his backpack from behind him and stowing the item away. He them pulls out a contraption that looks intimidating as all hell.

"Witch!?" Dean tries to shout over the pain in his ribs.

"She's a friggin' witch?" Sam follows up with, huffing as he's trying to catch his breath after the wind has been knocked out of him.

"Yep… the best in the world, actually," Sammy answers, walking for Rowena triumphantly with a little bounce in his step.

"It's always nice to be appreciated," Rowena answers with a little sarcasm. She sees the contraption in his hand. The metal loop with terrifying spikes makes her nauseous with fear. "You go and get that away from me." She points at it.

Sammy just grins devilishly.

"I don't know who you are but trust me, laddie. You don't want to be on my bad side," she warns strongly. "You put that on me and the second I'm free you will wish for death!"

"Eh, I think I'll be fine," Sammy brushes it off and brings the loop over her head, locking it in place around her neck. "Comfy?"

"Screw you," Rowena spits out with eyes glaring with hatred at him.

"Hm, you know, with the witch catcher on… I could make you do that," Sammy gives her a snide warning.

"Pervert!" Rowena yells at him.

"Okay…" Dean huffs out, slowly getting to his feet as the sharp pain in his side flairs up. Sam follows him. They both look at what's happening. Two hench-witches frozen in place and one with a medieval device around her neck. "What the hell is going on here? She's a witch?"

"Former head of the Grand Coven," Sammy nods with pride. "She's the real deal. Real magic. Real power."

"And you've just put a leash on a great white, you wee little man," Rowena nearly growls.

"Oh, relax," Sammy rolls his eyes, walking away from her. He pulls out an old handgun, one that makes Dean do a double take. It's his. The formally shining silver metal is now tarnished but he'd know the unique carvings and ivory handle of his best and most trusted weapon anywhere. Time travel sucks. "And trust me… there ain't nothing wee about me." He winks at Rowena.

"Oh surprise, surprise. A man bragging about the hidden talents in his pants," Rowena bitches. "I'd bet my weight in gold that you have nothing to write home about down there…."

"Cluck like a chicken," Sammy asks with a gleeful tone.

They all watch as Rowena starts to make chicken sounds every time she tries to talk.

"Ha! It works!" Sammy delights when smiling at his dad and uncle.

They glare back.

"Oh, come on!" Sammy gets upset. "You have to admit, that's cool as shit." He points at Rowena's clucking face, it staring Sammy down with pure hatred.

Dean considers it for a second. "Huh. It is pretty cool," he admits, huffing a quick laugh before groaning in pain, his ribs killing him.

"They broken?" Sam quietly asks next to him.

"At least one," Dean nods, bummed out by his luck.

Rowena's voice starts clucking again as she attempts to speak to them in a panic.

"Oh, my God! Shut up!" Sammy annoys to her. Rowena tries to yell something back at him but her voice is gone. Just her mouth moves, no sound produced. "Shit. The witch catcher actually works. Pick your nose."

Rowena glares with fury at him as she tries to fight against her own body. No matter how hard she tries her hand, index finger extended, comes to her face. She inserts her finger in her nose.

"Ha! Awesome," Sammy cracks up.

"What, we came all this way to piss off a grand coven witch by making her a puppet?" Sam asks, getting impatient. "What's the point of all this?"

"The puppet thing is just a bonus," Sammy assures him, grabbing his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. "We need her to deal with the knight of hell."

Rowena's eye bug out of her head with fear. She starts shaking her head no back and forth violently with terror when she hears knight of hell.

"Sorry, Glinda… but we need you," Sammy tells her, not willing to let her try and dissuade him. "Alright, ready to go?"

Dean's appalled as he looks at his grown son's grinning face. "You sent us in here as a distraction."

Sammy's grin becomes a patronizing one as he rolls his eyes. "No shit, Sherlock. Needed to catch her off guard or else catching her wasn't gonna happen."

"I broke a rib!" Dean yells, wincing with the sharp stab.

Sammy sighs impatiently and marches for his dad. He presses a hand into his side to check.

"Ow!" Dean gets pissed at the intrusion.

"Just one. Not that bad a break either. You'll live." Sammy walks back to Rowena and grabs the leather length attached to the catcher, using it like a leash for his captor. "You guys get the car and meet me out back. Go quick."

"What about them?" Sam asks, pointing to the two witches still standing stock still by the doorway.

Sammy glances at them, having forgotten about them. "Oh, yeah." He then without issue raises his handgun and fires twice, hitting each witch in the forehead with dead accuracy. The two dead bodies hit the floor and he nods, tucking his gun into the back of his jeans.

Dean and Sam stand horrified by what they just saw.

"Okay, problem solved. Go get the car!" Sammy points at them and heads for the door. "Come on, bitch."

Watching Sammy yank Rowena out of the hotel room, their feet just missing the growing pools of blood on the carpet, Dean and Sam are stunned. The witches look like people, hell… they are people. And Sammy wasted them without a care, a thought, or even a single emotion. It was all too easy.

"We gotta go," Sam quietly says, starting for the door as he knows they do need to move quickly before authorities are called in.

And Dean follows along, holding his side and trying to process who his son becomes in the future…

He's everything he hoped Sammy wouldn't be.

* * *

"He just shot 'em," Dean says with serious, deep-rooted concern and a touch of fright as he pulls out of the parking garage they stowed the Impala in. "Didn't even think about it."

Sam shrugs, making a face. "They were witches…."

"You and I both know witches ain't typical monsters," Dean tells his brother. "They're human."

"Using magic for evil," Sam plays back despite feeling the same concern and fear over Sammy as Dean is.

Dean sighs. "It's not just that they were witches, Sam," Dean complains, swiping his credit card at the pay station, then watching the arm move up and let them out onto the streets of New York City again. "You saw him. He didn't flinch. He didn't… he wasn't affected at all."

"Honestly? It was a little like me… when I was soulless," Sam concurs completely. He's seen that look of cold, uncaring determination. Sammy didn't feel a thing when he killed the two henchwomen. It wasn't a problem or a burden to him. It was nothing. Like eating a sandwich or farting. It's all the same.

"God, you don't think…"

"No way. He has a soul," Sam assures his brother.

"How can you be sure?" Dean airs his inner fear.

"You saw him when he saw Lizzy," Sam quickly explains as they head down a side street towards the hotel alley. "He was an emotional mess. He has a soul. He feels things… just not _all_ things." He shrugs.

Turning a corner, they both see Sammy standing by a back door, a dumpster to his left, with a pissed off witch behind him. The witch-catcher is still on. So is her face a pure anger.

"God, what the fuck happened to him?" Dean wonders aloud, not looking for an actual answer as he pulls up and stops the car. He gets that with the history Sammy shared that his son could easily be this uncaring and cold. But still, it's disturbing to see firsthand.

"Get in," Sammy says after opening the passenger side backdoor. He pushes Rowena in like she's an arrested felon, not the most powerful witch on the planet.

"Ugh!" she disgusts when she falls hard into the backseat. "Is that any way to treat a lady?" She scoots over as Sammy shoves his way in next to her.

"Find me a lady and I'll tell ya," he smirks.

Fire in her eyes, Rowena catches Dean's attention in the rearview mirror. "Nice work you done here with this one, dad. Quite the proper manners."

"Shut up, bitch," Dean and Sammy say at the exact same time.

Rowena rolls her eyes. "Well, now I guess I can see why he's such a brute."

"How about you don't talk until I say you can, hm?" Sammy says all smartass.

Trying to speak, Rowena can't. Nothing comes out.

"Awesome," Sammy smiles and sighs. "Okay, let's get back before Lizzy finds them."

Dean shudders. Whether it from the fact that Sammy used his mother's first name or that he's concerned about the knight of hell catching up to his family before they can get back… he's not sure.

"I'm calling to check on them," he tells the groups, pulling out his phone as she starts to drive back to his family in hiding.


	6. Chapter 6

**Long chapter, a lot of action. Hopefully it written well enough to be easily followed. If not, let me know! Hope you all like this one since I dig it!**

* * *

Sitting in an old desk chair, the kind that might have once been quite plush and comfortable but has now seen better days after years of use, Lizzy stares at the wall of janitorial items. Mops, brooms, tools, gloves, and even come cleaning products on shelves sit down there collecting dust. Judging by how thick it is, and the fact that there's a canister of that saw dust crap that was once used to soak up child puke still on in the collection of supplies, no one's been down here in decades. It's stuffy, the air thick with lack of ventilation. This is the last place she'd want to bring Sammy.

But here they are anyways. Stuffed down in some abandoned school's basement with her little Sammy asleep in her arms, his dead weight slowly becoming a burden. She won't let him go, though. No way. Not after today.

Her little boy, the one that is a spitting image of the man she loves more than life itself, is so innocent and small. He's never done a thing wrong outside of the usual childhood acting out. He's sweet and loving, always ready to cuddle with her and Dean on the couch to watch Toy Story or sit at the table and draw pictures for his family.

To think that Sammy grows up to be a cold-blooded hunting machine like his parents is completely crushing her heart. They tried so hard to distance him as much as they could from the world around them, to keep him out of the life, that it's devastating to know how badly they've failed.

And the power adult Sammy wields? Whatever that force was that he's somehow controlling… it's terrifying her to her core.

"I can't believe this is all my fault," Lizzy quietly laments with a sigh and she rubs her eyes with her one semi-free hand.

Lou turns around from her sigil work, small can of paint in her right hand and a paintbrush in her left, to look at her sister. "Nothing's your fault."

"Bullshit," Lizzy shakes her head as she grips her son tighter, the child dead-to-the-world asleep. "Whatever I do in the next few years… everything will be my fault."

"So… we make sure you do the opposite of whatever lead to this," Lou shrugs. "If we know the future, then we can prevent it."

A shaky exhale and Lizzy looks away, not believing that for a second.

"Um… correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you guys already give fate a big fat _fuck you_ once before?" Lou wonders, placing her paint supplies on a work bench and walking closer to Lizzy. She pulls a student-sized chair up to Lizzy and sits, her frame still small enough to make it work.

"But Sammy exists, doesn't he?" Lizzy rebuts. Her son was prophesized and they walked right into that one.

"And you don't regret that for a second so that's a shitty example," Lou dismisses. "But the Apocalypse never happened. You guys did it your way and it never happened."

"Sounds like I make my own apocalypse in the future."

"Exactly. You made _your own_ apocalypse!" Lou smiles, pointing out that Lizzy proved her theory. Her sister frowns back at her. "Look. Fate is like… a guideline. Okay? Not set in stone exactly. Before Sammy goes back to his time we talk to him and find out what the hell happened for real and instead of turn right, we go left."

"That easy, right?" Lizzy half-smiles as she stares at her sister. She then looks down at Sammy's serene face and brushes some hair out of his closed eyes. "This is everything I was always afraid of."

"I know," Lou answers. "Lizard, I know. But like I said, we're not letting this happen. I mean, you think I want my sister gone evil, my nephew gone rogue, and my husband just gone? Sounds pretty shitty to me."

"Plus… you're gonna lose your marbles," Lizzy reminds her.

"Yes. That too. That sucks," Lou cocks an eyebrow and she stands back up. She ruffles Sammy's hair light enough not to wake him. "He's not gonna turn out a hunter. I promise."

"You can't promise me that," Lizzy rebuts.

"I just did," Lou cockily refuses to go back on her word. "I gotta finish warding…"

"Don't bother."

Standing in the middle of the basement is Lizzy, Knight of Hell.

"You guys suck at warding, you know that?" evil Lizzy asks them as she looks around in disappointment. "I'm not just a demon, dumbasses. These wards are nothing to me."

Neither speaks. Lizzy stands up out of her chair and backs away a few steps, heading for the open doorway that leads to the stairwell.

"Don't!" the Knight of Hell warns, pointing at Lizzy with a grin. "Stay right there."

"Just let me put Sammy in the car," Lizzy asks of her own evil self, hoping for mercy. "I don't want him to be part of this."

"Guess you shouldn't have had him then, huh?" she responds. "A hunter with a kid. Still blows my mind just how fucking stupid I once was."

"Please…."

"Ugh, stop with the begging," the Knight complains, scolding Lizzy.

"Fine. But you gotta tell me, how the hell did you find us?" Lizzy asks, defiance being her only way to distract as she watches Lou slowly make her silent way to the duffle of weapons sitting on the workbench. She needs to keep the attention on herself.

The Knight grins. "Your son isn't exactly honest with his mother."

Lizzy makes a scared and confused face. "We have hex bags…."

"You have jack shit. Those aren't real hex bags." The Knight laughs. "Plus, _Lizard_ , I'm the worst thing on Earth at the moment. A couple sigils and some salt lines are child's play. Sammy knew that, too. I don't know what he's up to exactly… but he's hanging you three out to dry."

"He wouldn't," Lizzy is sure.

"You have no idea who your son is," evil Lizzy tells her past self. "Enough of this. I want everyone outside. Now."

"And if we don't?"

The Knight of Hell looks at Lizzy with shock. "This may be funhouse-mirror-fucked-up, but I'm not afraid to slash throats here."

"You can't kill me," Lizzy reminds her future self as she watches Lou grab the knife Sammy left them with the promise that it could at least hurt a Knight of Hell bad enough to get away from her. "If you do, then you'd never exist."

"That's true," the Knight nods. "But I can hurt…." She pauses to turn sharply and grab at Lou's wrists as it's raised over her head and ready to strike. "Everyone you love," the Knight grins wide with delight as she twists her grip.

Lou screams with pain as her wrists snaps, the pain shooting up her arm. She drops the blade when she cannot control her grip once her bones break. Without a second wasted, evil Lizzy takes a mighty swing and lands a punch right to Lou's cheek. Her smaller body flies through the air with the harsh force and her back hits the workbench before she crumples to the ground, completely knocked out.

"Louie!" Lizzy shouts, hoping her sister with get up. She doesn't move. "Lou!"

"Mommy?" Sammy wakes with a start after Lou's scream. He looks up to her and sees the panic in his mom's expression and it makes him also panic. "Mommy!?"

"It's okay, baby," Lizzy lies completely and puts a hand to the back of his head. She tries to keep his view on her and not on his injured and knocked out aunt. "Hey, Sammy. Hi, honey."

Sammy looks to his mother, very confused.

"I'm sorry I woke you up," she tells him, her arms already shaking in fear as she holds him close. "You wanna go back to sleep?"

"No chance," the Knight of Hell huffs with delight. "Outside. Let's go."

With the sound of his mother's voice behind him, Sammy turns to look out of instinct. When he sees another version of his mother some feet away, his body stiffens with alarm.

"Mommy!?" Sammy starts to scramble in her arms. "Mommy!?"

"It's okay," Lizzy tries to calm him, holding him tighter still. "Sammy, sweetie, look at me."

Sammy scrambles in a panic still.

"Sammy!" Lizzy shouts her son's name, making him lock eyes with her. "It's okay. I'm here. I know this is confusing…."

"Ugh! Blah, blah, blah," the Knight of Hell complains, rolling her eyes. "Outside! Now!"

"Sammy, I promise everything's okay," Lizzy swears to her boy as she starts to walk. She has no plan here and no backup. They couldn't properly ward the place quickly enough. Just the two of them wasn't enough. And this future version of Lizzy worked awfully fast. Suspiciously fast.

On her way to the stairs, Lizzy's phone rings in her back pocket.

"Bet I know who that is," evil Lizzy glees as she reaches into Lizzy's back pocket to grab her ringing phone. "Stay right here," she tells Lizzy as she answers the call. "Hot Shot!" she grins wide into the phone.

 **SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS**

Dean's face pales the moment he hears that voice. It's his wife's voice but he knows instantly it's not her. "Evil bitch."

"Now, is that any way to speak to your wife?"

"You're not my wife," Dean grits out to the Knight of Hell on the other line.

It's then that the sound of his crying son can be heard in the background, his voice sad and scared.

"What did you do!?" Dean demands to know, terrified of what's happening.

"Nothing… yet."

"Shit!" Sammy complains from the backseat of the Impala. Without thought he grabs the phone from his dad and puts it to his ear. He already knows who his father is talking to. "Mom!"

"Ugh, stop calling me that," the Knight of Hell complains. "Seriously, Sammy. I'm not your fucking mom."

"What the hell do you want!?" Sammy gets frustrated. "If you're pissed off then just come find me. Leave them alone."

"See, if I just came after you then it'd JUST be the same old crap. I've come after you before. You've come after me. I'm tired of the dance, kiddo," evil Lizzy tells him. "I know you are, too. I want this over with."

"You're right. I want that, too," Sammy admits.

"Then get your ass back here," she tells him.

"You're not gonna kill them… especially yourself."

"Try me."

The line goes dead.

"Fucking bitch," Sammy mutters, dropping the phone onto the front bench seat between Dean and Sam.

"What just happened!?" Dean fired out with fear. "She found them!?"

"They're safe," Sammy assures him without a shadow of a doubt.

"How the hell do you know that!?" Dean demands to know. "She could just kill them…"

"She won't, dad. Damn," Sammy says with sheer annoyance. "She won't kill mom because she _is_ mom. That would just erase her from existence."

"What about Sammy then?" Dean asks.

"And Lou," Sam adds in, pure concerned fright written all over his expression.

Sammy pauses before saying, "If she wants me there, then she'll wait to do anything else."

"How can you be sure?" Sam keep prying.

"Because if anyone knows her, it's me," Sammy explains plainly. "Lizzy won't kill anyone… not until we get there."

"What!?" Dean panics.

"She would inflict way more pain on us if she killed them in front of us. So… she'll wait."

"Not reassuring!" Dean booms out.

"I know… but that's the truth," Sammy explains away and turns to Rowena. "You know anything about Knights of Hell?"

Rowena nods, still not having been given the permission to speak.

"How about the Mark of Cain?"

Her eyes widen with shock at the mention of it.

"I'll take that as a yes. You can speak now."

She takes a deep breath. "You're a horrible little man."

"And you're a peach," Sammy calmly responds with. "Start talking. Mark of Cain."

"It's a curse. From Lucifer, himself. He had it, he passed it to Cain after he killed his own brother."

"How do we get rid of it?" Sammy asks her.

"I would need a specific powerful tome, one that holds many of the worlds most guarded secrets…."

"You mean this?" Sammy asks, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a volume that's old and very worn.

Rowena inhales with shock at the sight. "Dear boy, how do you have that?" She reaches out for it, needing to feel the binding and ancient parchment under her fingers.

"No touching," Sammy scolds and her hands replace themselves into her lap without her wanting them to.

"What is that?" Sam asks, curiosity running on the ultimate high.

"The Book of the Damned," Sammy and Rowena say at the same time.

"The hell is the Book of the Damned?" Dean wonders.

"It's a compiling of the most powerful, darkest magic… all the worst curses in existence from the beginning of man can be broken and this thing right here? Tells us how," Sammy smirks with pride.

"Okay… but if you've had this all along then why do we need Rowena?" Sam asks.

"She's a witch. Actually, she's _the_ witch," Sammy explains. "I could try and break the curses myself but… I don't possess magic like a centuries old witch that's on the lam for witch crimes. Rowena is going to break the Mark of Cain curse that's on mom."

"I most certainly am not," Rowena huffs with disbelief.

"Uh, yeah you are," Sammy says again. "You'll do as I say as long as that witch catcher is on."

"Dear, dear, stupid boy," Rowena shakes her head with a face full of fury. "You are playing with the kind of fire that will not only burn you but scorch the whole bloody Earth! You do not know what you are dealing with. All magic comes with a price…."

"I don't care," Sammy says easily.

"This is the original curse!" she keeps trying to warn. "The consequences of breaking it could be catastrophic…."

"I don't care!" Sammy tells her with a booming tone. He opens the Book of the Damned to a specific page and plops it on her lap. He then pulls out a printed stack of pages. "Here. I had a friend break the codex and the code the Book of the Damned was written in. You can read it. Learn the ritual and learn it good. When we get there… you're doing it."

"I don't think…."

"Not asking you to think, Red," Sammy brushes her off. "Get going."

Because she's forced to, Rowen gets reading. She'll do as she's told but she knows how poorly this will end.

The cab of the Impala gets quiet for a moment before Sam speaks up. "Uh… Sammy?"

Sammy looks over to his uncle.

"What if Rowena's right?" he asks calmly and quietly, looking to be cautious and unthreatening as Sammy is a force to be reckoned with, one he's not out to piss off. "What if breaking the curse leads to something… really bad. Consequence-wise."

Sammy looks right at his uncle and answers calmly. "Uncle Sam, the world I come from is fucked to hell. Literally. Lizzy has brought Hell on Earth and it's only getting worse every day. Whatever the consequence is… it can't be worse than what she's done. Trust me, this is the only way."

"You could always kill her," Rowena says under her breath.

"No, we can't," Sammy denies.

"Well… we could," Rowena tacks on. "I know of many powerful spells that can topple some of the worst of the worst…."

"No! You're not killing my mom!" Sammy shouts out with pure anger at the witch next to him.

Once more the car goes silent.

Sighing, Sammy continues. "We can save her."

"Without the Mark, she's still a Knight of Hell," Rowena rebuts.

"And I have a plan for that, too. Just shut up and read."

Again, a beat of silence. This time Sam and Dean look to each other, speaking silently of their suspicions.

Dean keeps drive as he starts to realize Sammy's orchestrating this whole thing quite brilliantly and down to the smallest of details. He knows more than he's letting on. He knew when to come back in time, where to find Rowena, what page the spell he needs is on in the extremely powerful book… and he really didn't sound all that surprised that Lizzy, Knight of Hell, found their family as quickly as she did.

"What the fuck are you up to?" Dean asks his adult son, looking at him with pure suspicion in the rearview mirror.

"I'm saving mom…."

Dean starts to pull the car over to the side of the road.

"What are you doing, dad?" Sammy asks, the Impala being put into park once it stops.

Dean gets out of the driver's side of the car, Sam seeing the high level of anger in his brother's face. Sam goes with him, jogging to catch up as Dean throws Sammy's back door open and yanks him out by the jacket.

"Dad! We don't have time!" Sammy yells at him as his back hits the Impala behind him, Dean pinning him there with a forearm to his neck.

"You better start speaking, kiddo," Dean says with stern anger. "What the hell are you up to?"

"I'm saving mom!"

"At what cost!?" Dean pushes him harder.

"I don't get…."

"Sammy, you've been on top of this from the jump," Dean spells it out. "You know where the witch was, you had the book ready, you had a plan! So, now I have to wonder…how far did you plan?"

Sammy stays silent, not getting what he's being asked.

"You seemed awfully calm about Hell Lizzy catching up to our family," Dean tells him how he sees it. "So calm, in fact, that I could swear that was part of your plan, too."

"Are you kidding me?" Sammy acts upset and insulted.

"I don't know, Sammy," Sam speaks up when he's immediately in agreement with Dean's point of view. "Seems pretty likely that you set it up for a Knight of Hell to get to them before we could."

"This really doesn't look good for you," Dean tells him. "Tell me you didn't set them up."

Sammy opens his mouth to lie but thinks twice about it. He looks away, out onto the road that they should be traveling down right now, to weigh his options. Lie and Dean and Sam won't trust him. They know something is off. Tell the truth and they might want to kill him but at least they'll still be helpful.

Shit.

"Mom, Aunt Lou, and little me don't have protection hex bags," Sammy admits. "We do."

Dean closes his eyes for a split second, controlling his rage. He looks at Sammy, waiting for eye contact. When they're locked on to each other, he asks, "What do they have then?"

"Magical beacons," Sammy quietly tells him, feeling like that little kid he used to be, incurring the anger of his father for his wrong doings. "It made them easier to track for demons."

"You did what!?" Dean shouts him his son's face, shoving him into the car with pure fire.

"Why would you do that!?" Sam yells at him from over Dean's shoulder.

"Lizzy won't kill them. And she won't let any other demons kill them either," Sammy explains. "I guarantee it took her all of a couple minutes once she arrived to get some demons on her side to help out. She's that good. And I know she wants me. You heard her back at the bunker. She's out for _my_ blood. I've pissed her off one too many times and she's over it."

"Who's to say she won't just kill you as a kid and erase you off the face of the Earth then!?" Dean starts to really panic. He feels sick. And hot. And like he's going to pass out with the strength of his fear for his family.

"Kid-me didn't do anything wrong. Okay? She knows the difference. Mom never kills just to kill. She's got her own code of demon ethics, or whatever. They're safe. She's waiting for me. And when I get there… we'll be ready. Still have three hours to go before we get there."

The way his father and uncle stare at him as they process everything makes him feel small. Like dirt. He knew this was dangerous and he knew he'd piss his family off… but this is too big to care about that.

"I'm sorry, dad…."

"Shut up!" Dean tells him, letting go of his hold on the kid with one more shove. "We get there and anything, _anything_ has happened to them… I'll kill you myself."

Sam marches around the car as Dean drops in behind the wheel.

"Get in the fucking car!" Dean shouts at his son before yanking the car door shut so hard that the sound echoes off the surrounding tree line.

Sammy listens, exhaling with the confrontation ending. Feeling like scum, he sits in the car and they start moving again. The ride is exceptionally silent for the next hour, the pressure and hatred aimed at Sammy crushing him.

But if he can break the curse on his mother… then everything will be worth it.

* * *

Sitting on the steps outside the abandoned elementary school, Lizzy's arms start to really hurt with her grip on her son. She somehow got him back to sleep after he saw another version of his own mother in the same room as him. She kept him close to her chest, shielding from seeing the Knight of Hell with her face again, and eventually he drifted back off since, when he's with his mother, he feels like all is well, all is safe.

"Can I please just put him in the car?" Lizzy asks her own future demonic self. "He's exhausted and…"

"No fucking way," the Knight denies. "He's the best little bargaining chip there is. He stays."

"It's freezing."

"I'm pretty sure he'll survive."

Lizzy sighs, her arms shaking a little with both fear and overuse. "I don't even know who you are. You used to love him more than anything, you'd do anything for him…."

"Funny what becoming a demon will do to a gal," the Knight smirks at her.

"I look at you and… I don't even see myself in you at all." She shakes her head with sadness for what she becomes. "What a mistake."

"Mistake!?" the Knight laughs at her own image. "Are you kidding? The Mark is a fucking blessing. I'm free! We're free, for the first time since our parents died. My life, it's… perfect."

Lizzy looks at her with confusion. "How can you feel that way?" she questions, so lost. "How can you be happy and free if you don't have a family anymore? You don't have love, or companionship…."

"And I don't need those things," Knight Lizzy grins without a care in the world. "I don't need love and family. All I have are wants and my wants are attainable with the power I have. I don't have to worry and wonder where Dean is all the time, scared to find out if he's alive or not…."

"Because you killed him!" Lizzy gets physically upset, shaking at the idea.

"Exactly why I don't worry anymore. I know where he is. Burning his soul away in Hell with his brother."

Bomb number seven-hundred and forty-five. "What!?" Lizzy asks, shocked.

"Oh, yeah. You think I was letting them just sit pretty in Heaven?" the Knight of Hell scoffs. "The Winchesters will eventually turn. I have my best torturers on them… and sometimes I get my hands dirty to make sure they're on the right track. Few more years of that? I'll have a couple expert demons by my side."

Lizzy stares with horror.

"See? I do what I want. And I enjoy it. Because it's fucking fun," she smiles huge.

All Lizzy can do is just shake her head and press her cheek to her young son's head. Her husband and brother… in Hell. Turning black-eyed. "You're a fucking monster."

"Aw… thanks," she winks back. The Knight of Hell stands a little taller and grins when a loud engine can be heard coming around the corner. "Missed that sound. Ha. It's funny the things you miss once you crush them into a cube."

Lizzy doesn't stand up. They've been outside for hours waiting, just the two of them and a sleeping boy. Her heart starts to hammer faster, not knowing how this is going to go, but however it does she'd rather keep Sammy asleep for as long as possible. He can't figure out what's happening if he isn't awake to experience it.

The Impala stops some several yards away and the engine turns off. The familiar creak of doors opening is heard.

"Took you fuckers long enough. Hit some traffic?" evil Lizzy smirks, watching the three men get out. A woman, Lou's petite height and size, gets pulled out of the car also. "Aw, you brought a friend?"

No one speaks to her in return as they start to move around, plan clearly already in place.

"Silent treatment, huh? Whatever," the Knight shrugs, not affected at all.

Dean walks from the trunk with an armful of occult items as Sam follows, shaking out an alter cloth and covering the Impala's hood with it. He pushes the fact that Lou is nowhere to be seen to the back of his mind for now, though he has a pit in his stomach over her absence.

"Ugh, a witch!?" evil Lizzy complains when she realizes who the red-headed newcomer is. "I fucking hate witches. Stupid demon whores."

Rowena gives her an angered look with the insult. "I answer to no one… demons included."

"Sure," Lizzy rolls her eyes. "And if Lucifer were here? You'd be on your knees already, sweetheart."

Rowena, offended by the Knight of Hell's running mouth, is ready to do what she can to end the bitch.

Sammy steps up, standing in front of the car's front bumper and facing Lizzy. Instead of let the Knight of Hell distract, he directs his attention to her while the rest get to work. "Lizzy. This ends now."

"What does, sweetie?" the Knight asks in Lizzy's usual loving voice.

"You're reign of shit is over," Sammy says with certainty. "I'm getting rid of the Mark. I'm curing the demon. I'm getting my mother back. Tonight."

The Knight laughs as if she's heard the funniest joke of her life.

"I wouldn't laugh if I were you," Sammy confidently warns. "Because this… is about suck for you."

Lizzy keeps her confident smirk in place, undeterred.

"Oh, Samuel?"

Sammy turns around to look at the witch, the gold ceremonial bowl already half filled with ingredients for the massively powerful spell.

"What is this?" Rowena asks aloud as she holds up a jar of blood from the sack of ingredients she was supplied with just now. She doesn't recognize it as an ingredient for the very specific spell they are performing.

"Blood," Sammy answers simply.

"From?" Rowena asks with impatience.

The Knight of Hell grins wider when she gets it. "From here it smells like it belongs to a boy. One named…." She sniffs the air. "Oskar."

Closing her eyes, knowing how screwed they are now, Rowena requests, "Sammy, dear. Come here a second."

"Little busy enjoying the moment," Sammy keeps smiling at evil Lizzy.

"I need to speak to you _. Right now_."

Rolling his eyes, Sammy turns and walks for the witch while completely irritated. This is his big moment. This is what he's worked his whole life for… and he's being interrupted.

"What the hell do you want?" Sammy half whispers to the witch, keeping the conversation between them.

"I want to talk to you about the fact that you royally screwed the pooch," Rowena angrily explains in an also hushed voice.

"What do you mean?" Sammy grits out quietly. "I searched every corner of the Earth for these ingredients…."

"And you got them all. Technically."

Sammy shakes his head, not getting it.

"You needed to supply something the spell breaker loves… so that the _spell breaker_ can kill it," Rowena explains, eyes glued to the jar of blood that belongs to the one human she ever loved that is now painfully gone. " _I_ had to kill him. Not you. You… you killed my wee Oskar for nothing. Nothing at all."

Sammy's heart freezes to ice in his chest. "Are you telling me… that after all this… you can't do this spell?" His fearful, wide eyes stare at her.

"Ha!" they all hear the Knight of Hell belt out with Lizzy's voice. She's erupting in a gut busting laughter, holding her stomach. She looks to Sammy. "Oh, my… _god_! Ha! Oh, kiddo! You are one _epic_ fuck up.

Dean and Sam look between adult Sammy and the Knight, coming to terms with how in trouble they are now. They have nothing. They can't kill her. They can barely hold her off now.

"I mean, you've fucked up a lot in the past, but this?" evil Lizzy continues to berate Sammy through her laughing. "You came all this way, traveled time, found the most powerful witch in the damn world... orchestrated this whole thing… and _this_ is what trips your whole plan up? You didn't read the fine print!?"

And the mood changes. Every ounce of confidence is gone from the group of hunters.

Dean's eyes catch his wife's, both filled with horror. Their little boy is completely at risk now. They have no recourse. They have no way to protect him.

Dean makes a snap decision. If this is happening, then he's not going down without a fight. Maybe if he gives a good enough fight his wife and son can slip off and run for it. If they can get away then Lizzy can keep Sammy safe from all this, he knows it.

"So… now that your plan is good and ruined… what do you say we end this quick and easy?" the Knight of Hell asks the group. She thrusts her hands out and the entire group by the Impala is blast back several feet, tumbling to the ground with the force.

Knowing she can't passively sit by, Lizzy stands up with her son. She can't do nothing. She can't let her little boy be put in this much danger. Her whole life has been avoiding this and she did so well for so long. This isn't happening.

But she's powerless against her future self. And when the Knight turns to look at them, her heart skips with fright.

With a smirk, the Knight of Hell starts to walk towards Lizzy and Sammy, standing on the steps of the old school.

"Don't," Lizzy sternly warns despite having no recourse.

"Mommy?" Sammy stirs in her arms at the absolute worst time.

"Please," evil Lizzy brushes it off and holds her hands out. "Hey, Sammy. Come to mommy."

"No fucking way," Lizzy shakily says and gets off the steps to walk across the asphalt towards Dean, her arms crushing her son in her hold.

"Stop!"

Lizzy freezes in place with the direction given by the Knight of Hell. Her feet won't move. She's glued to the ground.

"Come on, now, Lizzy. Hand him over," the Knight keeps advancing.

Panicking, she's screwed. Lizzy just grips tightly and looks down at the face of her innocent boy, his little face unaware of anything. "I love you, baby. Sammy, I love you."

"Love you, mommy," he smiles, but when a second woman that looks just like his mother reaches out to take him, his face darkens.

One look at the woman and he knows she's off, she's bad. Even if her face looks like mommy, he knows she isn't. Sammy's a smart kid, his Uncle Sam tells him so all the time. He knows he must keep his mommy safe from this bad lady.

It happens in a blink. Lizzy inhales sharply with shock when she sees nothing but blue, shimmering light surrounding her and her son. The light is dense but peaceful feeling, even in a time of extreme threat. When Lizzy looks down at her son in her hold, his are eyes lit up blue as he looks up at her with a smile.

"Sammy?" Lizzy says his name with total surprise, love, fear… everything.

"Hi, mommy," Sammy says, acting normal as can be despite his blue eyes and the blue light enveloping them. He reaches up to her face and squishes her cheeks together to purse her lips. "You a fishy."

She smiles back, heart hammering away. He's safe and she couldn't be happier about that. Everything else, especially her gut-feeling of fear over this ability of his, can wait. Instead she hugs her son close and lets a few thankful tears fall.

"What the hell?" Sam says first as the group slowly get to their feet, the blow taking a lot out of them.

Sammy stands quickly, knowing his secret is out now.

"Sammy?" Dean says his son's name as he watches the moment unfold. The forcefield around his wife and son is blue, angelic, like the light he's seen Castiel exude when mid-fight. Little Sammy's eyes look exactly like every angel he's seen before when they use their powers. But Sammy isn't acting like he's intentionally using them. He looks like the average Sammy, happy and normal. "Sammy!?"

His young son turns at his name. He waves at the very familiar face. "Hi, daddy!"

The blue eyes making him fearful but thankful, Dean just grins small right back and waves. "Hey, kiddo."

The Knight of Hell, standing a few feet back from the blue light, is stunned. She reaches out to grab Sammy though the forcefield but it zapped when she touches the light. She pulls her hand back, recoiling with pain.

"That's not…" she starts to speak but pauses to process the sight. "But… he's not supposed to tap into that yet."

"Tap into what?" Dean yells over, eyes sliding to his adult son at his side. Sammy looks guilty as sin and Dean doesn't like it one bit.

The Knight of Hell lets out a massive, piercing scream of anger. "No!" She takes two giant steps towards the little boy, ready to burst through it, consequences be damned.

" _ **Elizabeth**_!"

The sound of loud, louder than usual, angel wings flapping cuts through the commotion at the same time as the booming voice interrupts everything. A big dust up of air swirls around the group. Everyone looks to the source of the voice.

Castiel.

"Oh… shit," Sammy is heard muttering under his breath when he sees the angel.

Castiel stands there with shoulders squared to the Knight of Hell. His posture has never been this confident, this sure and strong. His clothing is different. He's no longer wearing the same tax accountant garb he's always in. In its place is a long black duster, the coat fitted instead of being too big. His crisp black button down shirt and dress slacks also fit to perfection. His blue striped tie is actually tied correctly… in a Windsor knot, even. The entire black ensemble gives him a much more intimidating look than the group is accustomed to from the sometimes-bumbling angel.

The Knight of Hell's demeaner also changes in an instant. She looks right at him and her jovial, cocky attitude is gone. She's ready, prepared. And she takes her attention away from little Sammy for the time being.

"Hello, Cassie," the Knight greets, eyes locked on him. "Was wondering when you'd get here. Did you drop the leash you had on Sammy-poo? Did he sneak out when you weren't looking?"

"Samuel's plan was misguided and hasty, not to mention reckless. He's knows what he did. I will deal with him after." Castiel glances at adult Sammy, making sure he understands the trouble he's in.

"After you deal with _me_ , you mean?" evil Lizzy laughs. "You've been trying to deal with me for years, Cass. You lose every time, and now that all the angels have gone off and cowered in their hiding spots like the sissy like children that they truly are, you're all alone in this fight against me. You're all alone. No angels, no Sam and Dean, no sweet Elizabeth… alone. When will you give the fuck up and see that I win?"

"I'll give up when you're dead and gone," Castiel tells her with certainty. "When I'm certain you cannot inflict anymore suffering on this planet."

"Cassie, no!" adult Sammy shouts to the angel, stepping forward towards him even though he knows what a bad idea that would be.

" _Samuel_!" Castiel fires out, his voice louder than any around him have ever heard. "You have made an enormous mess of absolutely everything. You've torn a rip in time, you've tampered with timelines… I've told you again and again, _you cannot change the past_!"

"But I have to!" Sammy yells back. "You know I have to!"

"Sit down, young man," the Knight of Hell interrupts, glancing at Sammy once and pointing to the ground. He, along with the other humans standing by the Impala, all slam to the asphalt ass first until they are forced to sit down.

Sammy glares at the Knight from his place on the ground, his anger growing by the second.

"Cassie, you know I'm not scared of you," evil Lizzy tells him, reaching behind her and pulling out a blade from the back of her tight, black denim pants. It's made of a long animal jaw bone, some teeth still attached. It's ancient and odd in the modern time it exists in but despite that the Knight of Hell smiles and twirls the blade expertly in her hand, just like Lizzy always used to. "And you know I have what it takes to end you, too. I've kept as many of my family members alive that I safely could out of… I don't know, call it loyalty to my old self. Maybe it's a little nostalgia, who the fuck knows. But between you and Sammy here, I've fucking had it!"

Without missing a beat, Castiel raises his arm behind himself. Materializing out of thin air, a long lance appears in his grip as he pulls it over head, the silver, gleaming tip pointed and sharp. When he has it in his hold, at the ready, the mending along the wooden shaft is clear. It's been broken once and since repaired. "Right back at you, Elizabeth."

Sammy breathes in deeply a few times, the fire in his gut growing as his eyes start to glow. His anger has always been his undoing.

"Sammy?" Dean asks, watching it happen as Castiel and the Knight of Hell square off. Once more he's seeing his son do something a normal human cannot. Yes, he's scared of the Knight of hell that looks like his wife. Yes, he's terrified of his son being a hunter in the future. But this? He's never felt a fear like this.

Sammy, blue light emanating from his skin as he powers up, stands up against the Knight's telekinetic strength. "Don't. Touch. Her."

Thrusting his arms out, Sammy pushes forward with his palms out. A blue burst of energy explodes out from him and ripples across the ground.

Everyone tumbles back when they're hit with it, everyone except Lizzy and little Sammy. They're protected still. They're completely unaffected.

Dean, Sam, and Rowena all roll back several feet, Dean hitting back first into the Impala. Sam is with Rowena way behind it.

Castiel is still standing tall, the blast merely ruffling his hair as his strength is nothing to scoff at. He simply stood tall and took it.

But the Knight of Hell takes the brunt of it. Groaning in pain, she's on her stomach and trying to crawl away. The burst hurt her the most, her body struggling to function after the attack.

And once the angelic power has been used, Sammy collapses to the ground.

"Sammy!" Lizzy yells and runs for him. It's dumb, she knows that. But she can't stop herself. Her son is hurt. Her baby is hurt and, even if the childhood version is just fine, she can't sit by and do nothing.

Diving to the asphalt next to him, Lizzy grabs Sammy's face with the hand not clutching to the child she's still got in her hold. Eyes closed and unresponsive, she settles his head in her lap. "Sammy, sweetie?" she calls quietly to him as she uses her free hand to lightly rub his cheek, looking to wake him. The blue light of little Sammy's protection surrounds all three of them so she knows, at the very least, they're all three safe.

When Castiel stands tall, lance in his hand tightly, he surveys his surroundings. The hunters he knows and loves are all around him, though in rough shape. Sam and Dean are still on the ground in pain, slowly making their way to stand again. So is Rowena, the witch they were never meant to meet just yet. His Elizabeth, the girl he watched grow from a child into a force to be reckoned with and then into the darkest of evil he's see the fall of his older brother, is there and pure and untainted. Sammy is a boy, happy and unaware still despite everything happening around him.

This should never have happened. Not like this.

The groan of pain coming from Elizabeth's voice makes him focus on the task at hand. He spots the Knight of Hell crawling slowly away in a pathetic attempt to survive. She won't. Not this time.

Castiel walks with determined steps to the wounded Knight. When he makes it to her he steps on her hand, putting enough pressure on it to immobilize her in her already weakened state. She yells in pain and doesn't try to move any further. With the lance's blunt end, he knocks the First Blade out of her hand and away from her reach all too easily. The angelic blow Sammy dealt her is far more potent than Castiel has ever seen from the boy. He's now very worried for Sammy's health.

Task at hand first, though.

"Elizabeth," Castiel says to her kindly, crouching to the ground as he looks into her eyes. The Knight reluctantly looks back, her hand still under boot.

"This where you finally kill me, Cassie?" she asks him, voice strained. Her brown eyes meet his blue ones. "You're finally gonna win one, huh?"

"I never wanted to win this one," Castiel admits to her. "But I feel you've given me no choice."

"I'll give you a choice right now," she returns with, wincing in pain. "Just let me go. _Don't_ kill me." She smiles through the pain with a cheeky attitude.

Castiel's mouth tugs a little in the corner, wanting to smile with the comment that is just so Lizzy, but he steels his face. "I'd give anything to not have to do this. My entire existence has been… pointless. At least, until I had you it was. I…." He looks away. It's hard to see her like this in a moment like this. "I did everything I could. I tried, I swear. But… I know this is the only way this can come to an end."

"You kill me… then we're all practically gone," Lizzy's voice reminds him. "Every human you tried to help and have called family…."

"You're not human," Castiel reminds without an ounce of emotion.

"No…" the Knight agrees, eye flashing black. "But neither were you. And I never faulted you on that."

This time, Castiel smiles tight and small. "That is very true. But I never brought Hell to Earth, so there's that."

"You got me there," she comments, her hand slowly creeping to the First Blade as she tries to distract him.

Lightning fast, Castiel stands and jabs her free hand in the center of the back of it with the blunt handle-end of the lance, pinning it to the ground to prevent her from grabbing her weapon. With an icy tone, he then reminds her, "But then again, you did kill Dean and Sam… made Louise go mad… and abandoned your own son. And… you left me." The anguish written into his expression with that last statement is deep and strong. "You took my best friends from me. You made my Heavenly family abandon the Earth and label it a lost cause. You, my charge I would have moved mountains for, left me. It's been… lonely. And truly painful. And I only have you to blame."

Castiel reels back his foot and kicks her in the side, flipping her onto her back. He then steps a foot onto her stomach, making sure she stays there, as he points the gleaming lance tip at her chest.

"Cassie… please…."

"You cannot plead for mercy after all you've done," Castiel keeps a calm, even exterior despite his heart already breaking in his chest. "You were my family. But you betrayed me. You betrayed us all."

"Cass! Don't…." The Knight of Hell, the fallen former human, holds her hands out in surrender.

"I love you, Elizabeth," Castiel tells her from the depths of her being, and he sharply plunges the lance into her gut.

In an instant puff of black smoke, Lizzy's form disappears into thin air with a single scream.


	7. Chapter 7

There's a silence that comes over the front of the abandoned elementary school. It's tense, no one knowing what to say or do in the moment.

But one thing is very clear: the threat is over. The Knight of Hell is dead.

Staring at the pavement under his foot now that Lizzy's image has disappeared, Castiel is frozen for the time being. He killed her. He killed the one person he was sent to Earth to protect and serve. His Elizabeth, the mother of the Second Coming and the first human to ever fully embrace him as a friend and family member, is dead at his very hands.

The hole in his being is already there and vast. He knows this is it. There's no going back now. He's never going to be the same again.

His expression changes from the serious, determined one he arrived with to one that's remorseful when it hits him with the full gravity of what he's done. Nothing has hurt like this. Not even when he was to blame for the deaths of so many of his brothers and sisters. For the first time since he was human, he can feel the prick of tears behind his eyes.

No. Not now. He must deal with the fallout.

Fixing his face to stone once more, Castiel lifts his lance and turns to the group. All eyes are on him. In order to appear less threatening, he snaps and the lance disappears from sight.

Without a word, he walks for Lizzy and the two versions of Sammy; one young and in Lizzy's arms and the other older and still unconscious. He stops just outside of the blue light surrounding them. He makes eye contact with the young boy that Lizzy has yet to let go of.

"Hello, Samuel," Castiel greets the little boy, his mood instantly lighter.

"Cassie!" Sammy shouts and reaches his arms out to the angel as the blue light disappears, his eyes returning to their human, green color as if he never did anything out of the ordinary.

With a happy, heavy, yet slightly relieved sigh, Castiel crouches to the ground and reaches for the child. Sammy happily leans out for him, letting the angel take him from his mom without a care.

"You different!" Sammy delights as he grabs the lapel of Castiel's black coat.

"The truth of that very packed statement is lost on you, I fear," Castiel jests slightly, watching Sammy play with his clothing. "But, you are right. I have a different coat. You've always been exceptionally observant."

As Sammy sticks his small fingers through a button hole on the coat, Castiel looks at Lizzy. He smiles even though smiling isn't a common thing for him. His heart hurts a lot less when he sees her sitting there, the old her. The her he always loved.

"You're not my Cass?" Lizzy asks, despite knowing the answer already.

"Yes and no," Castiel simply explains before glancing down into her lap. Her hand is carding through Sammy's hair as he lays there, still out cold.

"Is he okay?" Lizzy needs to know.

Castiel tilts his head as he looks over Sammy's adult form. With his free hand, he reaches out and touches Sammy's forehead. The young man breathes in deeply and opens his eyes, Castiel's grace mending him from the inside out.

Blinking a few times, Sammy shoots up until sitting. Frantically, he looks around, not seeing the Knight of Hell anywhere. "Where is she!?" he panics, scrambling to his feet. "Where is she!?"

"Samuel, calm yourself," Castiel gently says, never one to like raising his voice in front of a young version of the boy, as he stands up.

"What did you do!?"

"The question, I believe, is what did _you_ do?" Castiel turns it around. "I warned you of this plan, Samuel. I told you..."

"I told _you_ I wasn't giving up on mom!"

"She was no longer your mother!"

"Don't say that!" Sammy shouts and shoves Castiel in the chest, making him stumble back a single step while still holding little Sammy. Clenching his jaw, Castiel reaches to the young man again.

"We will speak when you've had a moment to calm yourself. Wait for me," Castiel tells him and touches his shoulder.

Adult Sammy disappears into thin air.

The silence of the area returns as everyone gets to their feet, all staring with caution at the angel in front of them. He's Castiel, the one they know well… but he's different. Stronger. More sure of himself.

"Cassie?" Lizzy quietly says his name. The angel looks to her with a blank expression. "Where's Sammy?"

He nods once. "I sent him back to our timeline, where he belongs."

"Back to the future?" Dean asks, making a face when he realizes what he just said.

"Yes," Castiel answers, not giving the pop culture reference the time of day as usual. "When I return, I'll deal with him."

"How do you know he'll actually wait for you?" Lizzy has to wonder, knowing how headstrong her adult son appeared to be.

Castiel's face lightens with confidence. "Where he is… he'll be there when I return." He takes one look at Lizzy's horrified face and elaborates. "Elizabeth, I put him somewhere safe that he cannot get out of. I'm not about to bring him any harm, I assure you. He is, after all, the last of my family. I wouldn't hurt him."

Lizzy nods and relaxes.

"Sam," Castiel turns his attentions to the tall hunter. "Would you please go get your wife. She's in the basement. The Knight of Hell knocked her unconscious and I'd like to take care of that for her."

Sam's face pales, his feet running instantly with the news.

"Okay… Cass, what the hell just happened?" Dean asks the angel as all involved are terribly confused.

The angel sighs, then peers at Sammy in his arms. "Why don't we return to your home, put this young man to bed, and we can all talk."

"What about her?" Dean asks, jerking his thumb at the witch still standing there.

"I'll take care of her," Castiel simply answers, marching quickly to Rowena.

"Now… wait just a moment…." Rowena tries to stop him but before she can he touches her forehead, the witch simply gone.

Lizzy inhales sharply with another disappearance. "Did you… kill her too?" she asks him.

"No. I simply returned her to her to her hotel room that she had been kidnapped from… after wiping her memory, of course."

Dean closes his eyes a moment and shakes his head. "Cass…."

"Patience, Dean," Castiel stops him there, looking to the front door of the school as Sam carries Lou in his arms, her body limp and still out. "Let's return you home. That is the Men of Letters bunker at this point in time, is it not?"

"It is," Lizzy nods enthusiastically, ready to return to whatever it is she considers home-like.

"Brace yourselves," Castiel tells them all and he closes his eyes and bows his head.

"Cass! The car!" Dean tries to remind him that the Impala is with them but it's too late.

In a quick blink, every one of the group is standing around the library tables in the bunker. They're home.

"Your car is in the garage, Dean. And no, I did not scratch it or, as you would say, screw with it in any way. I was sure to treat your car with the utmost respect as I appreciate my vessel's testicles where they are," Castiel explains very dryly, handing Sammy back to his mother. "It'd probably be best that you put him down for the night. I'm assuming his bedtime was hours ago."

Lizzy takes her little boy and nods. She pauses while staring at the angel, the one from a future that is so bleak and sad… and all her fault. There's so much she wants to say to him but right now isn't the time. Instead, she leans into him and kisses him on the cheek. "Thank you." And she walks away.

Once in the room that has been decorated with car posters, stuffed animals, and more die-cast toy cars than Lizzy could ever count, she lays Sammy into his race car bed.

"Mommy?" Sammy says in a now sleepy voice.

"Yes, baby?" she smiles at him kindly and pulls the covers over him.

"Is Cassie mad?" he asks, confused after all he saw.

"No," Lizzy grins, her stomach churning as she now realizes she has a lot to explain to him. What exactly did he see? What will need explaining? "He's just being… Cass."

"Mommy?"

"Sammy, I bet you have a lot of questions, huh?" she asks him in a calm, loving voice.

He just nods with his head on the pillow, his short, dark hair already sticking up at odd angels. He yawns while looking up at her.

"How about this, then?" she starts, leaning down onto her side, hand propping her head up as she speaks to the tiny love of her life. "Tomorrow morning, you come wake me up. We'll make pancakes and talk all about what happened tonight. You can ask as many questions as you want."

"Okay," Sammy easily agrees with heavy eyes.

Her fingers combing through his hair adoringly, her heart swells are she tries to fight the tears. Eyes on him, all she can see is the face of her twenty-year-old son that has had the most difficult life imaginable. "You know I love you to the moon and back? Right?"

"Love you too, mommy," Sammy grins at her.

"Get some sleep. And I'll see you first thing in the morning." Kissing his cheek, Lizzy stands up out of his bed.

"Night, mommy," Sammy barely gets out as exhaustion claims him.

Lizzy stops to turn on his nightlight, the turning star pattern lighting up the barren bunker room walls. They really need to up their game when it comes to decorating if they're going to be here for the time being. She then heads for the door, pausing to take a good, hard look at her son. Her heart immediately breaks for him.

Quietly, she shuts the door and walks for her own room right next door. She grabs the bagged salt and lines the outside of his doorway. It's irrational, she knows that. Anything that can get past the bunker warding can get past a simple salt line without breaking a sweat. But it doesn't matter. The extra step makes her feel better.

Leaning against the wall opposite his door, she lets it out. Lizzy slides her back down the wall until she's sitting on the floor, tears falling down her cheeks. He's safe now. At least for the moment, he's safe.

Sammy is her everything and she knows, even when he's older, he'll always be her everything. But… the future….

It's too much.

* * *

The moment Lizzy leaves the library with Sammy, Castiel turns to Sam. "Lay her on the table."

Sam does just that with a hammering heart. The gash on Lou's head is deep, running from her hairline to her eyebrow. And she's bled a lot.

"She's probably been out a really long time," Sam says aloud, his voice giving his fear away. She has been completely unresponsive from the moment he found her in a heap on the school's basement floor. He tried but he couldn't wake her.

"This is nothing I can't handle, Sam. Trust me," Castiel promises as he steps up. A glowing palm pressed to her forehead, a few seconds of concentration, and Lou's eyes pop open.

Instantly, Sam closes his eyes and exhales in relief. He then pops his lids open and looks at her as she sits up. "Never gonna get used to that shit happening."

"Whoa, the bunker?" she looks around, eyes landing on Sam. "What the fuck did I miss?"

"We'll fill you in," Sam huffs a laugh at her dazed expression as he reaches for her. Easily lifting her up, he sets her on her feet. "You feel okay?"

"A little… woozy, I guess, but I'm cool," Lou nods and presses a hand to her head. "Shit. I remember bitch Lizzy finding us… I think I tried to stab her… then nothing."

"It appears she dealt you a blow to your head that rendered you unconscious. But don't worry. I healed you," Castiel offers in the most basic of explanations. He then looks to the group. "I think we should sit down."

"I knew of his plan," Castiel sums up everything before Sammy arrived, his story similar to what Sammy had told them all. "He…."

Castiel turns around and just a couple seconds later, Lizzy makes her way around the corner and up the handful of stairs into the library.

Her eyes are red and watery, her posture slumped. Dean quickly gets up and walks for her, Lizzy pulling her arms around his neck automatically. He holds her close as she gives into sobs, her mind unable to deal with everything.

"I… I can't…."

"I know," Dean tells her calmly, a hand to the back of her head.

"Sammy… oh, god…."

"Shh," Dean shushes her when she can't manage to form thoughts. He just holds her tightly and lets her get it out once the gravity of everything hits hard. "We'll figure it out. We always do."

"This isn't like always!" she cries to him.

As the room waits for Lizzy to collect herself eventually, Castiel wonders if this is even worth it. Shouldn't he just leave? Explaining things isn't going help, not with how he must depart. Why bother?

Then he remembers that he hasn't spoken to anyone he truly cares about in several years. He's spoken with other angels, demons when he's had to, and Samuel from time to time. That's it. He misses his friends. He misses his family, their absence a deep cavern on his being.

Feelings. Sometimes he wishes he never discovered them and developed them. Being a soldier taking orders with no thought was so much easier.

"That can't happen!" she cries, lifting her head from his shirt front to lock eyes. "Dean…."

"It won't happen." He says it with pure determination.

"But… I ruined his life…."

"And this time around you won't…."

"Yes, she will," Castiel cuts in, his voice unwavering. "I don't doubt it for a second. Elizabeth will make the same decision when faced with the opportunity to possibly save her family. End of story. Both of you, sit down." He points across the table at two open seats. "We have much to talk about."

Lizzy pauses while looking at the familiar face that is just so different with time. She starts to see red. "You said you'd be there for us."

"Elizabeth…" he tries to stop her before she goes off. He knows her well.

"What happened to that!?" Lizzy accuses. "If you had been there, you could have stopped it all!"

"I don't believe I could have…."

"Why didn't you stop it!?"

"When have I ever once been able to stop you from doing something!?" Castiel asks, his voice elevating as he stands up. "You don't listen to others. You do whatever it is you choose to do and there's never been any stopping you. Don't try to place the blame anywhere else but on yourself. This all happened because of the choices _you_ made, not me. Now, sit down!"

Speechless, Lizzy listens. She takes a second to process the moment of sheer strength from an older Castiel and then she moves slowly to a seat. Dean sits next to her. Sam and Lou haven't moved so now everyone is there and listening.

"Samuel has made a complete mess," Castiel looks down at the table top instead of at the others as he sits back down himself. "I'm not exactly sure where to start."

"How about with Sammy's powers," Dean suggests, face hardening. "What the hell was that about, Cass? I mean, he's never shown that kinda juice before. Ever."

Under the table, Lizzy reaches for and grasps hard onto Deans hand. They're both terrified by what they've seen from their own boy.

"It's the Nephilim in him," Castiel looks around the room, uncomfortable with telling them this. "He has such strong connections with Nephilim bloodlines that… I'm not sure exactly but it seems that he can tap into some angelic power. He's never let me check but… I'm aware that he has a limited amount of grace within his soul. It's the only explanation."

"You're saying he's literally part angel," Lizzy presses on.

"I'm saying… I don't know. I guess so, yes… but nothing like him has ever existed before so I cannot be sure. Before now, Samuel has never been put into such a highly dangerous situation. That is what makes him able to tap into his power, or at least when he was younger that was the case. If he or his loved ones are threatened, he protects. In his older age… it appears he has a different trigger."

"Which is?" Dean fears asking.

"Anger. He's a very, very angry young man and I for one cannot blame him for that. Given the path his life took… I'd be that angry also. Maybe even more so." Castiel looks around at the broken faces, everyone trying to take in the information Castiel give, but it's so much to take. He keeps going anyways, knowing it'll only get worse. "In my time, Samuel came to me with this plan of his months ago. He wanted to come back in time, find the witch Rowena, bring her back with him, and have her complete a spell that would remove the Mark from Elizabeth's arm."

"Removing the Mark would cure me?" Lizzy wonders.

"No. Removing the Mark would simply ensure that you would not devolve into your own anger and the need to kill once more. It was to ensure you'd not go demonic ever again," Castiel explains. "Once the Knight of Hell Abaddon was set free, your lives became quite difficult. You all felt responsible and were determined to end her for good before she ruined the Earth."

"Why did we feel responsible?" Sam asks, eyes narrowed in curiosity.

"Well, long story shortened drastically… you let her out."

"Of fucking course, we did," Lou nods, sitting back heavily in her chair. "We suck sometime, dudes."

"It was purely accidental," Castiel tries to assure them.

"Yeah, that never helps," Dean comments back. "So, Lizzy gets Mark of Cain to kill Abaddon, does, and then goes crazy-slash-dies and turns demon."

"Basically." Castiel nods and looks down at his hands. "I haven't seen a sane, good version of Elizabeth in nearly twenty years." His eyes drift to Lizzy. "It is so good to see you again. Truly."

Smiling sadly, Lizzy doesn't respond so he continues.

"Samuel's idea to come back, break the curse, and then cure the demon version of his mother…."

"Wait!" Sam stops him immediately. "Cure?"

"Yes."

"As in… cure a demon?" Sam keeps prying. "Sammy knows how to cure a demon?"

Castiel just looks at him for a beat. "I forget you are new to this treasure trove of knowledge you currently reside in. I suggest you keep digging through the vast amount of information stored here. What you will find is… an immeasurable amount of help. Including the ability to cure a demon."

"Holy shit," Sam sighs out, looking at Dean with total shock. "I'll start going through it tomorrow."

"Yes, well, the point to all of this is that no matter how well thought out Samuel's plan was, he didn't know one crucial thing."

"That is?" Dean asks.

"Breaking that curse, removing the Mark of Cain from Lizzy's arm… that would come at a price too costly to risk," Castiel tells them.

"What does that mean?" Lizzy questions.

"Does not matter now. I found a weapon, one that was well hidden and highly guarded, that can kill even a Mark bearer. The plight of fear is over. Hell on Earth can end now." With that statement, everything starts to settle in for Castiel. "That's what matters."

The look of utter sorrow on Castiel's face is clear and strong.

"She wasn't me, Cassie," Lizzy tries to console the angel. She places her free hand over his on the table and makes him look at her. His troubled blue eyes stare at her with all the sadness in the world. "You didn't kill me. It sounds to me that I died years ago. What you killed was a monster."

"You can say that, and it's sweet of you to do so… but it was you," Castiel denies her kind words. "Demonic as you may have turned, it was you. I… I had to watch you descend into such hate and darkness… I don't…." Castiel finally looks up from the table to catch Lizzy's eyes. He sees her, the old her, her eyes still alive and bright. She's the woman he watched grow from a child and fell in love with. She's the one person that taught him more about what family is than any others. "It honestly is…." He pauses, eyes watering with emotion. "So good to see the real you again."

Lizzy immediately stands up when she sees something new. She's seen nearly everything a human can see in a lifetime… but she's never seen an angel cry. Especially not her angel. And his tears are her fault.

Wrapping her arms around his shoulders while leaning down to him from behind his library chair, Lizzy hugs her angel hard. His broken heart can't be covered by his new, extremely badass aura.

When he feels her embrace, Castiel hangs his head and closes his eyes. He absorbs the feel of something good, something caring. Angels are not beings that need warmth by nature. However, being around her warmth for years… he'd grown accustomed to it. Hell, he'd grown to need it in his life.

A hand coming up and gasping onto her forearm, Lizzy holds back her sobs with every ounce of strength she has. When she feels something slip into her hand, something that feels like a folded piece of paper, she doesn't say anything.

"Samuel needs me. I must go," Castiel suddenly changes his demeanor. He stands up after pulling Lizzy's arms out from around his shoulders. He looks at her for a beat and sighs. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Lizzy questions the statement.

He doesn't answer, just raises his hand as a white light starts to glow from it brighter and brighter.

It clicks instantly. Dean knows what he's doing. "Cass, don't…!"

That's all he gets out before the light envelopes them all.

* * *

"You want that last slice?" Dean asks across the metal kitchen table while pointing to the lone piece of pizza left in the box between them.

"Have at it," Sam simply answers, wiping his mouth with a cheap paper napkin as he stands up.

Dean just smiles to himself. He grabs the slice hastily and takes a huge bite.

"You talk to Lizzy?" Sam asks as he picks up the trash from their dinner and takes it to the bin in the room, it starting to overflow yet he does nothing about it.

"Yeah," Dean answers through his bite, looking across the kitchen at him. "They got in an hour ago."

"Nice of Lou to let me know," Sam lightly complains, having never head from her.

"Eh, probably figured I'd tell you."

"Nice work on that," Sam gripes lightly, smirking on his way to the refrigerator.

"They decided they're staying for an extra day," Dean tells him, ignoring the sarcasm. "Which works out. If we go after that possible vamp nest in Idaho we'll probably get back when they do."

"If the hunt goes our way you mean?" Sam comments, peeking into the refrigerator. Dean nods once when his mouth is too full to speak in answer. "When was the last time that actually happened?"

Dean shrugs. "Dunno."

"And Lizzy's cool with you hunting for no other reason than to hunt?" Sam questions with a healthy amount of skepticism.

Dean looks away and takes another big bite, not answering. Guilty.

"Oh, nice. You didn't tell her before she left," Sam gets mad. "Dean…."

"Sam, I know. Okay? I know." Dean finishes his bite to defend himself. "We talked. She's the one that said I shouldn't hunt unless it had to do with the Trials… which she's super pissed at you for not telling Lou about still."

Now Sam looks guilty. "I'll tell her when she gets back." His brother huffs in disbelief. "I will. I just didn't want to ruin their first trip back home in a long time. And this all _just_ happened. I need some time with it myself."

"Well, when you get sent to the dog house for this then I guess I'll be meeting you there," Dean bitches a little. " _She's_ the one that said no hunting. I never I agreed with her."

"So, you're going behind her back instead of grabbing your balls and telling her?"

"Hey! Not telling Lizzy that I'm going vamp hunting has nothing to do with my manhood, okay?" Dean points out, offended. "I'm just avoiding unnecessary conflict."

"You're being a wimp," Sam calls him out.

"And you're not?" He cocks an eyebrow at him in challenge.

Sam sighs with guilt as he brings two bottles of beer to the table and sits back down. He places both bottles on the table and Dean picks them up one at a time, popping them with a silverware knife. Dean passes one back to Sam and they clink bottles.

"To the dog house," Sam smirks, knowing they're both cooked.

"Woof," Dean answer back flatly and gulps down a healthy amount of beer. After he swallows he sighs, "Ah. Well, upside of the wife and kid being away, I can drink like I want to."

"Or, you know, you could just plain give your liver a damn break," Sam huffs a laugh.

Dean gives him a look of annoyance. "My liver's made of iron these days."

"Yeah… that's not how alcoholism works, Dean."

The two go silent for a moment and Dean looks around the kitchen with a weird feeling.

"What?" Sam asks, knowing something's up.

"I don't know?" Dean answers, brow wrinkled and eyes staring at the icebox. "Just… huh. Felt like something was… missing maybe?"

"Are you asking me if something's missing?" Sam wonder, completely confused.

"Maybe. It kinda felt like something was supposed to happen or…." Dean trails off, still feeling odd.

"You feeling okay?" Sam laughs a little at him.

"Fine," Dean quickly responds, still looking at the icebox.

"Seriously… you're not stroking out on me or anything, are you?" Sa keeps poking fun.

Dean snaps his focus to his little brother. "Shut up," Dean bitches and stands up, heading for the kitchen doorway. "I'll be in my room."

"Grumpy," Sam comments and laughs again. His phone buzzes in his pocket and he takes it out to look at it.

 _Hey, Giant! We're here! Just letting you know._

Shaking his head with a grin, he texts back.

 _Yeah, I know. You got in an hour ago. Thanks for the heads up._

Sam sips his beer and doesn't have to wait more than a few second for a response.

 _Sorry! I'm excited to be here. We haven't been to the Cape since we were kids. Sammy's already loving the beach. I just wish you came with us._

Sighing, he nods. He agrees. Sam had talked to Dean about going with them, family vacation and all, but with the bunker being so new to him and the fact that he just started the Trials and Sam hasn't told Lou about it yet… seemed like it would be for the best to stay put and do some research without prying eyes.

 _Me too. But we have plenty to keep us busy. Stay safe out there._

He ends it there so that she can go back to enjoying her time away. Massachusetts is a flight away for them and, since Dean didn't go, they bought tickets. Sammy's first plane ride. Lou deserves to have this time to show Sammy what it was to grow up like Lizzy and she did without having her face buried in a phone. They can talk later.

When Sam gets to his room, he ditches his jeans for sweatpants. He's just about to fire up Netflix when his phone buzzes again.

 _We will. I miss you already. I'll have an answer for you when I get back. Promise._

And there's that rock of guilt in his gut again. They had a deal that they set up before Sam completed the first Trial. She would take the time away from him and the bunker to think. Sam, once they moved into the secure bunker, brought up children again. Surprisingly, Lou wasn't completely against it, just mostly against it. She swore she'd give it some serious thought and let him know what she thinks. They are getting older. Time is ticking. Lou, never having wanted children before, is feeling the internal clock now and needs to figure out if she can live without ever being a mom.

Sam now wishes he could just tell her not to bother. He doesn't know what the Trials will do to him. Maybe having a family really, truly isn't in the cards for the two of them.

 _Don't stress about it. Have fun and relax for once. I love you._

Sitting at the end of his bed, Sam stares at the three dots on his phone screen, indicating that she's typing a response. He feels terrible about keeping the Trials from her.

 _I love you, too. Think of me before you fall asleep tonight. ;)_

Sam laughs at that. There she is. His Lou. Always turning a simple I love you into something sexual. It never fails to make him grin these days.

And he does think of her while he falls asleep. Not how she was hoping he would, but right now the blame he puts on himself makes him think of nothing much else besides her.

* * *

"Okay, I think someone's had enough," Lizzy laughs as she looks down at Sammy sitting on the big blanket spread out on the beach sand, his eyes drooping as he vocally whines with crankiness.

"Oh, he's done," Lou agrees, sitting up from where she'd been laying out on her towel. Through her sunglasses, she can read the sleepiness all over him. It's been lovely sitting out on the beach for a few hours, the air warm and salty. It's been a good reminder of their younger years. She and Lizzy even rented the same cottage they stayed at with Lizzy's family every summer. They're sitting in their old spot at their old favorite beach and moment like this in their lives are too few. "Pack up and head back for naptime?"

"Sounds like a plan," Lizzy easily agrees as her son gets fussier by the second. Pulling Sammy into her lap, the young boy in his bathing suit shorts and t-shirt with shark on it, she asks him, "You need a nap?"

"No!" Sammy starts to cry. "No nap, Mommy!"

"So, you want to stay here?" Lizzy challenges, already knowing the answer as she knows her son all too well.

"No!" he complains back.

"Well, sorry kiddo, but I think you just need to lay down," Lizzy tells him for sure, standing up with him in her arms still.

Sammy continues to whine as they pack up. When Lizzy pulls on her shorts she finds something in the pocket. A folded note. She quickly opens it and reads.

 _Do not go with Dean in search of the First Blade. Stay home. Stay with Sammy._

"What the hell is this?" Lizzy asks her sister, holding the note out to Lou.

She takes it. "Where did you find it?" she questions as she reads the short, quickly scribbled note.

"My pocket. Never seen it before."

"What's the First Blade?" Lou has to wonder, handing the note back.

"No idea," Lizzy shrugs. "I mean, Dean didn't write it. And neither did Sam. It's not their handwriting."

"Ha, if Sam wrote it you wouldn't be able to read it," Lou laughs it off. "Cass maybe?"

"Could be," Lizzy shrugs. "Never actually seen his handwriting though. That's weird, huh?"

"Guess," Lou brushes it off. "We'll ask when we get back."

"Okay," Lizzy nods, shoving the piece of paper into her pocket again as she plans to ask Sam and Dean about the note when they return.

She never does. She washes her shorts before she remembers to, destroying the note.

* * *

 **THE END**

* * *

 **Finally finished this prompt. Hope you enjoyed it! I'm getting the itch to write more again. I doubt I'll find the time to move any faster than I have been but hey, at least the want and love for writing is coming back! Whoo Hoo!**


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